


Gloriana

by emilyarasgain



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Assassination Plot(s), Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blood and Torture, Changed Backgrounds, F/M, Gang Violence, I dont know how to tag, Psychological Torture, Violence, beth is a badass, different kind of badass, kind of canon I guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2019-08-22 10:57:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 78,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16596563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyarasgain/pseuds/emilyarasgain
Summary: She was Beth Boland. Housewife. Mother. Aunt. Sister. Friend.She would suck it up. Forget her past.She was Beth Boland.No more fearless Elizabeth Marks.No more danger, no more adrenaline.There is always a choice. She would be fine.Until she wasn’t.or the one where Beth Boland's lies hide a lot more than an adrenaline addiction and a desire to please a certain king.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So, I don't even know where I am going with this. I have a dissertation and a systematic review to write, but apparently that's not enough. And I am kind of obsessed with this pairing and there are not enough fics.  
> My extensive police/spy shows and novels background kind of gave me the idea, but I have no more clues where this is going. English is not my first language, although I have been reading more things in english than any other for the last couple of years, so I guess this could work. I never posted anything here and not one work in english before, so I don't know. I am still working on a couple of details, so I'm not gonna promise regular updates (not until the holidays at least).  
> But I at least promise I will finish this, even if my crazy overcreative brain makes a mess of this (probably what will happen, I'm not gonna lie). Sorry in advance.

Her parents named her Elizabeth after the queen. The First, mind you. Annie was in honor of Anne Boleyn. Her mother was the perfect daughter in a WASP family. She majored in History and then went to England, where she studied specially the Tudor Dynasty. She used to tell Elizabeth that when she learned that King Henry killed and fought the Catholic Church just for a male heir, and in the end, his daughter was the best ruler his kingdom ever had, she was awed by the power of women.

Her mother used to think that she would never marry and rule her own kingdom by herself. She always felt so trapped in a Christian world, so when she went away for college, she did everything she could to get away. She studied and became one of the best at her field. Went away to England, away of her mother’s faith and rules.

 She was at a library when she met Henry. She used to tell Elizabeth, laughing, that after he told her his name, she thought that if there was a God, he was playing with her. Elizabeth would look at her mother’s eyes and only see love there. Everyday her mother would tuck her in and tell the same story, about the real Queen Elizabeth, her namesake, and then she would tell the most amazing stories of her own little queen.

Her father loved travel. He grew up rich in a very intellectual and academic family. His father was an army medic, died during the Second World War. His mother was old money, french bourgeoisie. He was raised between France and England, by his grandparents, both scholars in search of knowledge. He became a diplomat. He was stationed at Oxford when he met Siena, and her passion for history brought him to his knees.

Elizabeth was born in France. When she was three, they went to Russia. They stayed there until she was six and then went to Germany. When her mother became pregnant with Annie, they went back to the States, as her father would go on to travel too much for a while. That was when she first met her American family.

Siena was an only child. Her parents never wanted her away and working. They wanted her married to a nice WASP guy. She was supposed to go to college and come back married. When she went away with her professor to study overseas and met Henry, a European diplomat, and atheist, they didn’t approve. Siena didn’t care. She told herself she would only marry for love. That broke them apart. But then she was pregnant, her mother was sick and wanted to meet the girls. She caved.

Beth and her mom spent all summer break when she was eight in Detroit. Her grandmother was nice and baked her cookies. Her grandpa taught her how to play chess. Annie was born, and Beth liked to hold her and sing for her. Beth knew from the moment she saw her sister, that she would love her forever. She liked her little life in Detroit, but after going through her grandpa’s library, she was bored. She used to walk around the neighborhood and then she met this girl shouting off boys. Her name was Ruby. After a whole afternoon of playing, she also knew that girl would play a role in her kingdom. Ruby liked to play princess, but Beth told her they should be queens instead.

She asked and asked to go to school with Ruby, even though the usually studied home or go to special schools for embassy kids. Her mother allowed, and she got to go to a normal school with Ruby for three months, until her father was back at France, and they moved again.

But a thing changed for Beth. Her mother was back talking with her family, so they would visit. Every summer they would go to Detroit, to visit Grandma and Grandpa. She would go out with Ruby, her only friend. They would play queens and take care of Annie. Beth would go out with Ruby’s school friends. She like that, she like her normal life in Detroit. But she loved her crazy life with her daddy better.

So, it went like this. At five years old, Elizabeth Marks spoke three languages, argued with her daddy’s politician friends and lived with her nose in a book. By seven, she did higher level math problems and liked to watch model UN meetings. By eight, she was a proud big sister. By eleven, her language count was up to seven. At thirteen, she wanted to be just like her dad, she was top of her class at a prep school for embassy kids. At fourteen, she was living in Egypt and learning one more language. She was so good with them, she was good at belonging everywhere, playing roles. Her uncle Steve used to say she could be thrown at any place in the world and could find her way back without a map. When she was sixteen, she had graduated and had her first boyfriend. She flew in to Ruby’s junior prom and caught the eye of the quarterback, Dean Boland. Ruby said he would always ask her about Beth. She liked it, having his attention.

When she went back home, she chose to go to college in the States. She went to Yale for Politics and International Studies. She would call Annie every day and talk about how she missed her and her crazy schemes. She planned to go to England for a semester abroad, be closer to them. She would see her family in Detroit for summer, but it was not enough. She went out with Dean a few times before college and decided that he was nice and handsome enough. He wasn’t a king, but she was her own queen. They would go out and write each other, visit. Dean was a Business major with a football scholarship, former quarterback. He was a good enough boyfriend. They probably would see each other for a while during college and, of course, have some other dalliances at frat parties. Someday, soon enough, they would break up and he would marry some other girl and have 4 kids and a white picket fence. She would travel and conquer the world. She didn’t care, she wanted to be free, like her mom was. If love would find her, then she would settle.

And then her daddy got shot.

Beth remembers running to the airport and trembling with her passport. Uncle Steve was waiting for her in a government issued jet or something. She remembers crying during the entire flight. She remembers seeing her father in the hospital and her mother’s blue eyes were gray, cold.

She was by his side when he died. It was 5:42 AM. She will never forget that number. And then he was alive again. She hugged him, so relived and uncle Steve entered the room.

“That was close, huh, Henry?” he said. He looked at her, smiling a little. He always treated her like she was wise beyond her years. She liked that. “Eliza.”

“What happened? Dad?”  She could tell that there was something they both knew that nobody else did. Her mother was now grabbing lunch for them with Annie. Her father almost died. His heart stopped. She had the right to know what was happening.

“He messed with some bad people, Eliza. Meddled in some things, saw what he shouldn't”

“C’mon Steve. Why are you telling her this? Still with that crazy idea, I said I won’t stand for it.”

“I have an eye for this kind of stuff, Henry. I know she will be amazing. I always knew. She is only seventeen and has so much potential.”

“Amazing at what?”

She used to think that if her life was a book, that was the climax, the plot twist, the point of no return. That whatever happened from here on out, she would never have her world so turned around like she had that night.

And then she met Rio. And boy, was she wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da!  
> God, I'm nervous. Maybe I'll go crazy in a couple of days and delete this, but I kinda want to see where this goes. I usually change go with the flow, but I have an idea, I guess.  
> I don't know.  
> I haven't written with intent to post since I was fourteen.  
> Please be kind.


	2. Elizabeth is no more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her parents and uncle Steve talked about it for a week. Rules were set (they broke three of them at the first day). Eliza set her own after. Steve provided just one: don’t push too far, back away at the first sign of danger. He said it was the platinum rule, the only commandment. She had to follow that for life. They promised as he presented her with a string of pearls, locating chip at the clasp.  
> The first time she broke the rule it resulted in the worst day of her entire life. The second, it gave her the best thing she could think of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally. I am really nervous posting these because I don't know if people will like to decipher all the craziness I thought up in my mind, but here we go.

When you are a diplomat’s kid, the last thing you’ll have in life is stability. Friends, boyfriends, it all could be over just like that. But that was ok for Beth, she liked not knowing where she would go the next day. She liked that her uncle Steve would teach her how to defend herself one day and the next they would meet important people at a dinner party.

Little Eliza Mérieux was well liked by everyone. She was sharp and argumentative. Diplomat Henry Mérieux’ daughter was beautiful and smart like her mother, but she had her father’s wit and ambition, his sharp tongue.

Because her father came from an important family and had such a strategic mind and pacifist ideals with a cunning charm, he used to be deployed in conflicted places. The moment he started a family he made sure that Steve would protect them at all costs. His little girl was taught jiu-jitsu-based techniques with a little Krav Magá since she could understand why protection was important in a world of powerful men. Specially for women.

He also protected their identities, he did everything to never appear in the media unless it was extremely necessary. For the records, he had a family, but that was it. No names informed for the outside world that went away from the dinners at the Embassy or Christmas parties. Elizabeth usually accompanied him at these events, but she wouldn’t discuss her personal information with no one, unless those people were thoroughly vetted by uncle Steve.

Her uncle worked for the Government of France or something, in security, but he lived with them. We would travel sometimes and leave James, his partner that had been there since Elizabeth could remember. They both always took care of them. Henry, Siena and the girls were his only family since the death of their grandparents. Henry was raised almost like a brother, he was his brother. And Eliza was the apple of his eye, his daring girl.

“No, Steve.” Henry always laughed when his cousin would say he would like his Lizzie to work for him. Always calling her Eliza, always treating her like an adult even when she was a child. Was still a child. “Like you said, she is seventeen and she is young and has dreams. She’s in college. Leave her be.”

“I think it’s her choice, isn’t it?” There he was. His eyes glowing with fire. He knew since she was a baby that she was like him, that she would be even better than him. “I know. I always knew. And so did you. And Siena. C’mon Henry. She’s ready.” Henry’s glare lessened, and Steve used this as a permission. “Eliza, do you know what I do?”

“You are some kind of... No… actually. I have no idea what you do. You are with the DGSE, French Gendarmerie, the National Police? Minister of Interior, Interpol? Something like that.”

“Yeah, something like that. Kind of special forces, we deal with international affairs, things no one wants to. We deal with big threats over countries political treaties and alliances, this kind of things. To maintain a certain illusion of peace. Maintain balance”

“Steve-“ Henry glared again. He was just shot, dammit. He knew this time was coming, but that didn’t make him ready for it. She was still his little strawberry-haired girl, his most precious gift.

“Shut up, bro. Eliza, I have been preparing you all your life. I knew you were perfect since you showed us the first glance of personality as a baby, was certain this day would come since the first time you yelled that I was wrong in front of everyone.”

“Christmas party.”

“Yeah, gave me a lesson about religion. And then you’ve been killing it at college. I know you are taking some criminology courses. I’ve influenced you.”

“And you want me to... what? Play spy for you?” she laughed, but something was telling her this was it. Something cool was starting in the bottom of her stomach and spreading like icy fire in her veins.

“If you want.”

She laughed, still thinking it was a joke, it had to! At the same time, too good to be true. But going back to her interactions with uncle Steve, everything was becoming clear. He’d always tell her stories of spies and heros, he’d taught her how to observe and read people, he would discuss psychology with her and human behaviour. All those nights reading psychology books together, learning about all cultures, geography, reading by the fire. His survival classes, their camping trips. The time he saw her flirt with a boy and then began teaching her NLP. She felt an even colder sensation in her stomach, but just like Ruby’s friends would tell they’d felt when they kissed boys they liked. Icy butterflies. She’d felt no such thing with Dean. But she felt now.

So, she said yes.

Her parents and uncle Steve talked about it for a week. Rules were set (they broke three of them at the first day). Eliza set her own after. Steve provided just one: don’t push too far, back away at the first sign of danger. He said it was the platinum rule, the only commandment. She had to follow that for life. They promised as he presented her with a string of pearls, locating chip at the clasp.

The first time she broke the rule it resulted in the worst day of her entire life. The second, it gave her the best thing she could think of.  

One of the rules were that she would go back to college. Her father’s dangerous position made him divorce Siena (on paper at least) and they provided them with new identities and a story. Henry Mérieux broke all connection with his family after an affair, never talked to them again. They moved back to America. Nobody knew where. Siena and Annie Marks moved down the road of her parents’ house. Elizabeth Marks went back to college, but also went to work. Her codename was Jane, creator of her mother’s second favorite Elizabeth.

Back at Yale, uncle Steve rented an apartment for them, so when she wasn’t in class, she was on immersion. Like a method actor she learned to drown all her inborn traits and instincts, so she could become everyone. Each day a different language was spoken, she would try various combat tactics and trained until she was so sore that only immersing herself in extreme hot water would give her muscles the rest they deserved.

Her father went back to Brazil for a while, where he had come upon a huge corruption scheme. But after that he was placed elsewhere, while Elizabeth and Steve investigated his attempted murder. From what they discussed, her father was in the way of some party’s plan, with ties with drug trafficking and money laundering running up to Bolivia, Colombia and even Mexico. Before the attempt her family was in Brazil for almost a year, and her father has been suspecting some foul in some politician’s affairs. He went on leave and secretly stayed in Detroit with his family.

Within six months, Beth went on her first mission. On her eighteenth birthday she was officially welcomed to the team as Jane Seymour. At nineteen, she went undercover for two weeks. And then she graduated. She thought about going to law school or the academy. She did neither. She went undercover again as a french seductress and slept with a man in exchange of secrets. They busted him for organized crime two months later and “killed” her in the process. She went blonde and killed her first man. She became a brunette and then realized she was almost like a weapon. She knew how to work most guns and how to disassemble and assemble one back in seconds, she knew how to use her beauty as a tool, an enchantment and her body as weapon. She knew how to consider the wind for a long-range shoot. She knew how to hide several kinds of arms in her. A blade in her stiletto heels, a little powdered poison in a compartment in her ring, a gun between her things. But her hands also knew where to press, where to stab with anything with force enough to hurt, to break, incapacitate and kill.

She started counting ways out of every room and if anyone attacked her, objects would always glow, indicating that it could become a weapon if she needed. She knew how to apply various poisons, she knew how to make simple things toxic. Her arrest list grew. Her death list too.

She grew in the agency as well, leveled up and got information in exchange of her work. Secrets. The team adored her, and she was mostly used in field international missions. She knew the culture and language of so many places, she usually fit right in.

Beth got shot once and then her father did not let her leave his side for three months. She was so bored. Hanging out with a thirteen-year-old Annie was all right. Talking and going out with Ruby to smoke weed was too. She also would talk a lot with Miguel, her mother’s friend, in fast Spanish about the effects of drug cartels over Latin America’s politics. And later she would go out with Dean too and they would screw in his dorm. She would fake as she did with her honeypot missions and other flings. She used to think that she was broken, that sex for her was a tool to be used, not something for pleasure. She was good at it, she knew, she could make men (and women) do what she wanted with the right flick of her tongue or trust of her hips. But she felt nothing.

She knew she was pretty with her blue eyes and red fiery hair going on miles with soft curls, her creamy white skin, tiny waist, broad hips and ample breasts. She had the face of an angel and the innocence act, but she was dangerous, and no one could tell. It made her feel alive and she loved it.

There were things that surprised her. She knew that her relationship with Dean was mostly for show, the beautiful girl and the quarterback that fell in love with her at childhood, but it lasted through college and beyond. That surprised her. She also was very good at lying under pressure, she discovered. It went beyond being good at going undercover or fitting right in everywhere. The lies left her lips almost by themselves, and they were well thought out. She never got caught in a lie. She believed them and after everything, it was what got her through the following years.

Annie started high school back in Ruby’s school. Ruby met the love of her life, Stan. Beth worked with an anti-terrorism team. Annie created havoc with her schemes. Ruby got engaged. Beth went to take down an organized crime boss that had ties with IRA.

And that was when everything went to hell.

Her mother got sick. She couldn’t leave her post, so her team tried to bring Adam and Charlie in faster. Beth was undercover as the daughter of an arms dealer, and everything was going smoothly. But afraid for her mother, Beth pushed too far too soon. At first glance the arrest was successful, but then, an attack at the local HQ killed seven local agents. That mistake would make her pay with the passing years. But also saved them. Because when they arrested them, they got away and went straight to her. Called her by her real (but even then, fake) name.

“So, Laura, I hear you respond to Jane”. Her stomach dropped, her heart stopped.

They had a mole on their team.

After barely escaping the attack alive, she went to the team and a confused shooting took place when Jason panicked. Killed another local agents and injured Natalia.

Steve was extra cautious when she entered, and Henry always protected them from the danger, so no one knew her real name and who she was. It was one of her father’s demands. Henry did everything to maintain his family out of the spotlight, as far as protecting them and having Steve always around, always ready to make them disappear if the shit hit the fan.

So even when she wasn’t Laura anymore, Adam and Charlie only discovered her as Jane Seymour. That was the only reason they found Jane and not Elizabeth.

But discovering that Jason’ betrayal went beyond selling their names was a shock. Uncle Steve and their boss, Nicholas, were shocked to see an alternative organization within theirs. That sold secrets and kills for money. Sold locations, sold names that would disbalance the apparent peace they created. So, in the end, uncle Steve gave away all the secrets to government agencies and all he could savage was the identities of the survivors of their small team.

They spent a week undergoing a psychological torturing interrogation, so they could know who to trust. From their team only James, Natalia, Ophelia, Samuel and Mary remained. And, of course, Elizabeth, Steve and Nick.

They made planes to restart in 10 years’ time, the time they calculated would take to undo the damage the mercenaries in their organization did. The time it would take to the ripple effect pass. They set up locations all over the world where everyone would go and contact. They planned. Eliza’s would be in Detroit. They all would go their separate ways and dismantle the crime organization one by one. Even uncle Steve and James. 10 years laying low. That was it.

After that, Adam and Charlie were sent to a Siberian prison. The team, what was left of the direct agents of the old organization parted ways, most double agents were killed or ran away during the big throwdown. A lot of people died in the crossfire, one of them, her partner, Ophelia, and even innocent civilians, so Steve made Elizabeth swear to a special promise.

“Eliza…”

“I know what you are gonna say, and no. I’ll be there, ten years from now” she said, blinking away tears. “You guys are my family too, and this is what I love, and I wanna help. I’m sorry I broke your rule, uncle.”

“Yeah, and to make it up for that, you will have to promise me another thing and God forbid you break this one.”

“Tell me.”

“You will go back. You lay low, go to Detroit, get a normal job and a normal life, look after your mother. Annie. Don’t tell anyone what happened. Siena knows a little, so tell her you changed your mind, grew up and now you want a family. Marry some guy, or girl, or whatever. Play housewife. Become a lawyer, do whatever. You go be Elizabeth Marks, or, how do that boy call you?”

“Beth. I-“.

“Become Beth. Marry him, marry another. Change your habits, color your hair if you want, starts pottery classes. It’s ten years, Eliza.”

“I know.”

“Take care. I’ll still be in touch within the year. It will be crucial. If something happens in this year, you forget the rendez-vous, you be happy. You hear me? I love you, fearless Eliza.”

“And I love you, uncle.”

“I said normal. Don’t go near police force or FBI. Never. We had direct agents posted in government offices. If they recognize you, you are in danger. Never call the police, so don’t get into trouble.”

“I know.”

“If you become a lawyer, be a corporate one, or an environmentalist, don’t go criminal. Go divorce or something.”

“Uncle, don’t go out there alone, don’t leave James.”

“I have to, 10 years without him in exchange for a little peace and then a lifetime of happiness. You, try to find love.”

“That’s not up my alley.”

“That’s what I thought. But we, Mérieux, we fall hard and fast. Like a lightning bolt. You’ll know. For us it’s hard to find, but when it comes, well… You know. Just look at your parents.”

 Since her dad’s shooting, her parents fake-divorced and all of them used her mother’s maiden name. She even remarried a gay friend that needed citizenship. By the eyes of the world, Siena Martinez née Marks, was a happy college professor married to a colleague. And her estranged father, Henry, was a lone wolf, whose family grew apart and divorce made him bitter and work-focused, aloof to everything else.

At the airport, Beth embraced Annie and Ruby, and then her mum and step-father. Her sixteen-year-old sister and her best friend were crucial to the transition to a normal life. But Beth used to look everywhere trying to find uncle Steve saying they would be back.

That day never came during the first six months. 

She went on. Got in Law School. She was maid of honor at Ruby’s wedding. She was a chaperone at Annie’s parties. She started to seriously date Dean, more normal than that it was impossible. He asked her to marry him and she said yes.

One year after she became normal, her father (secretly) gave her away to Dean and Beth Boland was born. Not Elizabeth Marks, not Eliza, not Jane, the super spy. She was just Beth. They went to Paris for a honeymoon, courtesy of her parents. They spent ten days there and she said to herself that it was okay, she lived the life she wanted, and she would go back. Ten years, or maybe less. Maybe she would divorce Dean, maybe just disappear, travel the world and comeback to Detroit when time came.

The last day of her honeymoon, she received a message on her old’s team communicator. “ _Eliza, it’s in Hamlet, she must’ve, by she didn’t. She survived and lied._ ” It was in code. It was probably nothing. During the interrogation that killed many moles of their team, they destroyed all the lines. Only Nick and Steve kept theirs. But Nick gave hers back after. She never knew why.

She should’ve worked out faster and not passed it away as a fluke. She shouldn’t have drowned her instinct. She also should’ve remembered that the following day.

Back in Detroit, they went to her mother for dinner. Her mom asked for grandchildren, Annie rolled her eyes at Dean’s jokes, Ruby and Stan looked just as in love as Beth used to think she would look when (and if) married. And then she saw her uncle Steve at her mother’s office, signing for her to follow him. When she entered, she saw that he was very tired. Looked worried.

“What’s happening?”

“Nick is MIA. We may have to change the rendez-vous. His last message was “ _Tell Jane that the king’s murder is linked with the leak and the criminals in the snow. To be or not_ \- well, it was unfinished.”

“What does that mean?” she asked. Nick and his fucking enigmatic personality. The guy angered her sometimes.

“I don’t know. Why would he mention you at a message to Mary, and the king? What mission? We know the leak is Jason and the double-agents, and the criminals in the snow are- “.

“Adam and Charlie. Are they-?”

“Still in Siberia, yes. Charlie’s in solitary, Adam in the infirmary. But we don’t know for how long, the truth is that whilst is secure in there, it’s a prison controlled by prisoners almost. They run the place, they do not scape only because they would die in the cold winter. It’s corrupted there. We need to take you to a secure location, Beth- “.

“Ugh, don’t call me that.”

“Sorry, Eliza. But it’s serious. We think that they are linked to someone you killed, and that they have people going after you. We- “.

 “I never worked directly to a royal family or anything in the like.”

“You need to come with me. After the last message, I received something saying you had to run. Probably the last thing he did before… I’ll drop you in a safe house outside town and in three days’ time James’ll arrive to take you to Canada. We’ll meet and then take a bus to Alaska and then fly to Argentina. And we go from there. In a safe house in La Plata, there is an envelope, with your new identity and several places you can go. Pick one that has no link to your personality as Laura or Jane.”

“What do I say to mum? Annie? My husband that you told me to get?”

“Say your father requested you. We’ll have to kill you on that trip.”

That was the point that changed everything. The reason why she never made it to the rendez-vous after it was reestablished. Why she, heiress (even estranged), of a rich diplomat lost everything she had. Why she would meet, finally, the love of her life by robbing him. The reason for that was, you sometimes don’t really know someone the way you think you know.

She lives by the ideal that she wouldn’t change anything in her life. Because everything she did brought her where she is right now. Yes, brokenhearted and, worse, broke, but she has her babies, and her girls.

But if she could go back in time, she would say no. She would look her amazing uncle in the eye and say, “There has to be another way”. And she would have said about the other massage, because she would’ve worked that out faster.

They went to the car. Beth was a very good getaway driver, so she asked to drive. They were on their way to the safe house. She said her father called and wanted her to travel to him, so they could have a last week together before married life. Father-daughter bonding. He would take her to their favorite place.

It was a ruse. She fake-packed and met Steve at his hotel, both leaving for the safe house.

Even today, she never remembers what really happened. In detail. They were talking, and she was telling them about the honeymoon. And she remembered.

Hamlet. She is Hamlet.

He wrote in code because he discovered a mole again. Inside the survivors. I mean, the fallen. Because she survived the survey for people to trust but died in the crossfire.

Ophelia, her partner, supposedly killed herself in the crossfire. But was alive. To be or not to be. Ophelia was alive, and she was a traitor. She was with Jason, there were two moles in their direct team.

“Ophelia.”

“What?”

“She is alive and one of them. She’s linked with Adam and Charlie, she was a double agent. And the murder of the king, that’s dad. Uncle Steve, we have to go back, we have to save- “.

A collision.

 They were blocked by two cars, ran out of the road. She tried to maneuver them out, but the car was falling. Everything went dark.

When she woke up, she and uncle Steve were facing each other, bounded to a chair full of electricals. She screamed despite being gagged and then felt an electric shock almost burning her insides. Her feet were wet. She was bleeding. She was crying. Scared she opened her eyes again and saw Ophelia.

Beautiful Ophelia. Long dark hair almost greenish in the artificial lighting in the- was that a basement? Her green eyes were dead, and her smile was so cynical that she looked almost a whole other person.

“Don’t even bother, little Eliza. Boy, it was so good that after that torture you all trusted enough to be more forward. Or, at least, distracted. Making a promise over my dead body, literally. I was fake dead on the floor and I heard your pretty name. Looking through Steve’s life it was easier to find. He hid it well, but I found.”

“You killed Nick.”

“Not directly, lunatic thought he had better chances falling off a cliff than fighting with me. Well, I did have a gun.”

“You used his code to force us to run and came right here. Followed us and… My father, what did you do? It doesn’t make any sense”.

“Really? What do you think we did back then?” she asked even though everyone there already knew. “We did everything for money. Your father meddled with cartel business, political plans involving a big trafficking scheme between powerful players in big drug owned countries. Adam was involved. So was Charlie. When everything happened, and you discovered us, we had to act fast. Your father was in the way, so we are taking him out. If I’m being honest, he’s probably already dead.”

Steve laughed, blood dripping everywhere. Ophelia didn’t take that well and with the press of a button she had him yelling from pain.

The next couple of hours (days? She couldn’t tell) were full of questions about their plans for the rebuilding the agency. Ophelia was ruthless in her torturing. She was that good, Elizabeth knew, they were partners after all, they both learned from one another.

“C’mon, Elizabeth, just tell me your plans and you can meet up with your father.” She sounded almost bored. She looked so different, so cold, yet it was more natural to her. Elizabeth almost asked herself how she never realized Ophelia was dead inside, that one of her best friends were a complete psychopath.

Her regrets were clear. She didn’t live her youth. In the last years, she prioritized work over friends and family. She never fell in love (even though she knew she never would).

She doesn’t remember anything more after her silent talk with God, or death, because there was an explosion, apparently.

She remembers the warmth and a ring in her ear. She remembers a invisible force throwing her and the impact that was her body against the ground.

She woke up in a hospital. She was found in the forest, near a burning warehouse. A woman was dead inside – probably Ophelia. No other bodies. Uncle Steve could have escaped, she hoped then.

James came back, sat with her.

Her father was proclaimed dead. There was a lot of blood in his house overseas, some money and other valuables missing. The story was that someone tried to rob him, he reacted, and they shot him, disposed of the body. The blood was his, too much. The chances of survival were slim. She also hoped.

“How did you know where I was, how did you find me in that forest? She drove us to the middle of nowhere.”

“Steve and I always say code by the end of the day, so we know the other is alive before going to sleep. When he did not contact me, I tried tracking him by his car. Found it destroyed outside of the road. That left you. Your pearls, Eliza. I must go, the others were warned, the rendez-vous will happen. But you will not be in it.”

“I know.”

“Because you promised Steve. Because your mother is already grieving your father and she will not lose a daughter. Ophelia discovered your identity, but she had no chance to give it away to their team. She acted alongside a small team. Natalia was after your dad, found the assailants, they’re dead. I killed Ophelia, so no one knows your identity anymore. Just me. Goodbye, Eliza.”

Clean slate, new beginning. She would go on as a housewife in the suburbs, for real this time.

In the funeral, she just made an appearance. After all, her father was estranged. They buried an empty casket for him. Her mother didn’t go, couldn’t even get out of the bed, and as far everyone knew, they were divorced. So, she went, nonchalant and pretended.

In the funeral, she cried for show, just a couple tears. Few words. Every day in the shower, she cried for real. For her dad, for Steve, her second father, for her old life. She promised herself and her family that she wouldn’t be Elizabeth Marks née Mérieux anymore, the queen. Nor Eliza, alias Jane Seymour. She would be Beth Boland. She would run the house, maybe work part time.

 With the money her father left her she bought a house in the suburbs. She helped Dean built his boring business. She helped Ruby, she helped Annie. The rest, she donated (another mistake, she thinks now). All the charities her father helped, all the institutions she met since she was a kid. She didn’t want the money. It was stained with his blood.

Her mother was a ghost. She also got rid of most of the money. She sold the house and went to live in a small apartment with Annie and Miguel.

Beth went on as Beth Boland. Her father was dead, her old life was over, uncle Steve disappeared, probably dead. She decided to try and be happy. As she promised.

She wouldn’t break this promise.

She would be happy. With Dean, with Annie and Ruby. She would take care of them. Of her mother.

She continued law school, and it was celebrating passing the bar that she realized that this was her life. Puking her guts after changed the game again. She was pregnant.

Ruby had just announced too. Their kids would grow up to be best friends. She smiled at the thought. When she discovered her baby was a boy, she also saw an ultrasound pic between Annie’s things. She was pregnant, even more far along then Beth.

When she held her baby niece in her arms, she promised again. No more Elizabeth Marks, no more Eliza. Jane.

She was Beth Boland. Housewife. Mother. Aunt. Sister. Friend.

When she held her own baby in her arms, she cried and thought that maybe that life could be good too. So what if she felt like something was missing? So what if she recognized the own lifeless color of her mother’s eyes in her own. She would suck it up. Forget her past.

She was Beth Boland.

No more fearless Elizabeth Marks. No more danger, no more adrenaline. She was addicted once upon a time. No more. It wouldn’t matter if things would get rough, she would never use Eliza’s skills. There is always a choice. She would be fine.

Until she wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know how many times I edited this chapter. It's just the setting, but it has to be perfect so I can construct Elizabeth's personality and mentality.  
> I'm also going to pretend I didn't steal the plot for winter soldier as a way to distance Beth from her old world. But, seeing all the neo-fascist ideals rising everywhere I guess Hydra would be possible in the real world.  
> So I based my fake international independent organization on SHIELD and my whole plot of captain america' movies, sherlock books and episodes and in the current brazilian political climate, so it's gonna be bomb. House of Cards' writers wish they would be so creative as the real life political happenings in Brazil.
> 
> So I guess that's it.
> 
> Disclaimer: The MCU is not mine, unfortunately, but it could. Please, MCU, marry me, I love you. 
> 
> Brazil, stop with the stupidity. u gonna destroy everyone, please stop, it's entertaining but also scary, so please just stop.
> 
> PS: Almost all character names are from the MCU, and I made it a little LGBT friendly because why not. Except for Ophelia, she was taken off of Hamlet, but I found out that it also was the name of the Viper/Madame Hydra character from the comics, so here we go. If I'm not putting as many literary/pop culture references in my writing as possible, I may as well don't write at all, so...


	3. You gotta win, bitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, of fucking course, they got caught. Even with all the measures she took to prevent it. Because thirty grand became half a mill and store cash from the vault was laundered money from a gang.   
> Really.  
> Just her fucking luck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this so many times I don't even know what happened. Enjoy.

She promised James, the family she still had and herself that she would not go back to her old life at ten-years’ time with the rest of them, but she still drove by her contact point on the rendez-vous date every year, just watching, savoring, remembering. But after her third baby, she decided that keeping her life calm would have to do.

Of course, sometimes, when that horrible numbness takes over, she blames her decision on the oxytocin.

But, nevertheless, they were right, the circumstances changed. Her family needed her, her mother needed her alive and Annie needed someone to step up and be by her side, and their mother wasn’t the one anymore.

But even then, she could not forget about the golden days with her team, her other family. The family who spent ten years alone around the world, going after all the corruption that their organization unleashed.

The day before the rendez-vous she cried all day, claimed a migraine so Annie and Ruby to watch the kids and come midnight, with her nannies both drooling away on her couch, she drove to the location.

It was an old warehouse and it was not empty. She guessed that the location was sold. She observed, hidden. A huge guy with a face tattoo was in front, talking to another man. They were both armed. Clearly there were a lot of people there, inside. She spent four hours there, watching, to see if they would go home.

She neared the warehouse when they were inside, tired of waiting. She knew that place well, after all the years she visited. She liked the quiet peace from the woods outside. There were days that she would spend all day there, just watching, feeling.

 All the years she came the place had been empty. She knew it was because she had arranged to a yearly deposit to be placed so no one could use the place. Maybe it expired. She looked around, hid in the right places. Observed. When the sun was about to came out, she entered. There were chemicals and machines. Were they cooking meth or something?

She didn’t care.  

She went to the small room in the back, the place where the old communicator had been placed. Heard voices there, accented. They were probably Mexican drug cartels, she knew there were some coming to Detroit for the Canadian border.

Because of the company in the main room at the warehouse, she had to be quick and quiet. She breathed and felt her heel, making sure the blade she’d put there was in place still. If they saw her, she would kill them swiftly, nobody would see. She needed to see the communicator, just to make sure they were alive. To make sure everything was okay.

She had to hide when she saw the same guys she saw outside when she arrived got in the room. They talked about the new location and some plans. The warehouse was a new location for them. That meant that they probably didn’t know about the secret room located between the small tools’ shack outside. When they left, she used the back door and got through the garage. She used the small hidden door there and entered the room. It was empty. Everything looked the same there. She saw the pictures and the locations they draft in the meeting to set up. All the study she’d done the first year when she still believed she would go back. The targets that were set for her.

The built in safe was still there, hidden. Inside, the communicator. She was late, but she would see the messages, all of them confirming location and status.

She promised Steve and James, but she had to see for herself that her second family was fine. That they were alive and well, that all their plans were realized. That everything was fine.

She opened the safe. In there, the communicator was intact. The envelope with all she needed in case she had to run also was. She gathered all of it and went back to her car. Charged the thing and turned on.

Nat. James. Sam. Mary. They confirmed status at midnight GMT. She was surprised to see that only five minutes after another name appeared.

Nick. He was alive. Apparently, the odds of throwing himself off a cliff were good indeed. She breathed deep. No Steve.

She almost confirmed status that day. Her body aching for her to do so. But then she thought of her babies. Her little baby girl sleeping at home. Her sister, her niece. Ruby and her kids. She was a spy once upon a time and she loved everything about it, and it was true that she never wanted that suburban family life. She never wanted to be a corporate lawyer that left her lucrative and prospering job to be a housewife. But she loved being a mom, she loved her kids more than anything else in her life. Because of that, she didn’t confirm status, she didn’t dig her old life back. Instead, she took the communicator to her safe-house outside town, near the warehouse and locked in her safe, alongside her guns and the envelope. No reason to get rid of something that she could use one day if needed.

Or just for a reunion dinner party, she laughed. She missed them, but one day maybe they would all retire and be together again.

She came back to her house and watched all her kids sleeping for what felt like (and probably was) hours. Emma was so beautiful in her new bed, already growing, her baby girl. She saw the sun really start to bright through the curtains. She went to her room, empty. Dean was probably already at work. Didn’t even noticed she wasn’t there.

She sat on the bad and cried.

She loved her life, she did. Some aspects, at least. Just like her mother, she loved her children. She was only alive for them. Annie. Ruby. She would not come back to the safe house and reach out to her old life. No way. She had babies to protect and a promise to keep. No more Elizabeth.

She was Beth Boland and she would die Beth Boland, wife, mother and sister.  

-

 

Three years later she had almost no regrets. Her life was okay. Her babies were wonderful, her marriage was alright. Dean didn’t bother her much, so it was better. Under control, she thought to herself. Convinced herself even.

 And then Dean had not only cheated on her with a walking American cliché, he also lost all her money.

That was the most humiliating thing she’d ever gone through. Fuck, she even had been taking his hints to pick up their marriage from where they had left years ago. Their sex life had taken a toll from Danny’ birth. They had been drunk when they conceived Emma. Nothing since.

Not that she cared, but she thought he did. Enough to bother her with the cheap seduction.

But he was trying to get in her pants whilst fucking a college dropout bimbo. Wasn’t he getting enough?  Why he also had to bother her for it then?

She was furious when she saw that piece of bejeweled fabric trying to pass as underwear. She was so shocked she cried, she felt numb again, like she felt every time she wanted so bad that her life worked out different. But then Elizabeth was back, and she smashed everything, so she wouldn’t smash his face.

Oh, he was dead.

He was even more dead when she found the unpaid mortgages. When she called her bank manager and glared him into submission, he told her everything.  

Dean started to dig holes in their money account three and a half years ago. Cutting expenses to “apply” their money on his business adventures, the manager said. She chose to call them idiotic whims.

He got good at that, the guy said. Until last year when he got cocky and lost a bunch. She saw all the transactions, all he did in the last four years. That idiot. That’s why the fucking warehouse was being used, he cut off the expenses’ account she used it for.

He cut _her_ money off from her, leaving a very important part of her life to be used by criminals. But then spent three times the amount to a “business trip” to Vegas. Tickets for two.

Son of a bitch.

The timing couldn’t be worse.

Apparently, Annie and Ruby were also fucked. So, after she broke everything she had to break, she sat down with them. To lay down the options.

 “What about your trust fund? I know mum got rid of all dad’s money after he died, but your trust was intact, right? For times like this.” Beth said to Annie, even though she already knew the answer.

“What about your trust? You, that always saves and saves, where that money go, huh?” Annie accused her. So yeah. Beth was right. Annie had spent all her fucking money away. Probably on booze and trivial matters. Perfect.

“Down the drain with my fucking marriage, Annie!” she yelled. Fuck her boring life, she should’ve disappeared when she had the chance. Or saved a little bit of money. But she didn’t know about this, she thought that with a house and an okay business she would be fine her whole life. She also had put away a little trust for Kenny’s college (at the time the only kid she thought she would have), but Dean must’ve lost this too. How could he be even more useless than she thought? God! “Anyways, I asked you. It was a couple of millions at least. And you never went to college.”

“Being a mom is expensive.”

“Really? Annie, for God’s sake, what did you do?”

“Look, I was 21 with a 3-year-old. My goody sis watched her for me, so I would have fun now and then. With my husband.”

“I know you had fun, but-“

“I don’t know how I lost it, okay? I made some fuck-ups along the way, but I was okay being poor. I used for fun and for fun with Sadie. I used to raise her, but I also didn’t want that money.”

“Annie…”

“He died, Beth! And he killed mom with him and he left me alone, to fend for myself, to care for my mother. I was so angry with him. You, you had the relationship with him, traveled, had a happy family, a little sis, big Christmas trees and fancy dinner parties to show off your pretty dresses. I had an absentee father that left us when I was 9.”

“Annie, he was- “.

“You were at college and you had Uncle Steve and I had mom dying inside because she was alone, because dad had to save the world all the time and be targeted. We had a fake names and visits alone from dad and you were away. Being brilliant at Yale. I didn’t even get to go to college and discover myself. I just graduated high school pregnant and watched my mother die inside. The closest I had for a father at my graduation was Miguel.”

“Okay. Us talking about money that we don’t have anymore won’t get us anywhere.” Ruby said. “I know both of you from forever. That money was tainted for you guys, letting go was the right thing. How would you know that your shitty husband would cheat and lose all the money that you arranged for him to have or that you would get divorced and your child’s dad would try to take your baby from you, especially since you guys have the most amazing bond? And you guys couldn’t predict that my baby would get sick.”

“I’ll see if Dean didn’t lose Kenny’s college money. Your problem is more pressing, Ruby- “.

“No, Beth. Don’t you dare.” Ruby was looking at her like she was crazy. But her daughter needed those med. C’mon Beth, you have to think a little, how to solve this in a easier non-crazy way. Think, you have to come up with a plan. A Beth Boland type of plan. Not Elizabeth. And specially not Annie. “That money is probably gone, and Kenny deserves to go to college.”

“I know, but I’ll cross that bridge later.”

“I know we have to solve all of our problems, but what about you, Beth. Your oh so shiny law diploma, you’re a fucking lawyer. You can represent me, get me Sadie back and maybe some money off Greg and then we can help you and Ruby, pay off your mortgage and whatever.”

“Yeah, Annie. I, a lawyer that hasn’t work in over 5 years, could really win a custody battle against one of the best lawyers in the city and still land you a paycheck from your ex-husband, who did nothing wrong, is married and stablished.”

“You are smart, Beth. You went to Yale and shit. Worked overseas doing God knows what for the French government.”

“Annie, I was a corporate lawyer a lifetime ago. An associate.”

“Weren’t you on partner track or something?”

“Well, yeah, but… I’m not a child custody lawyer, I know next to nothing about Family Law. I was specialized in international law, and even if I was, I stopped working years ago, everything changed, I can’t. I’ll lose.”

“Don’t you know anyone?”

“Every associate I knew hated me, because they’ll are all sharks in a really small pool. My professors probably already forgot me, and all my contacts probably bill out a couple thousand an hour.”

“What about pro-bono? Your boss.”

“Annie, they take like really huge cases with humanitarian impact for pro-bono, not a small custody battle.”

“See? Diplomas don’t solve anything.”

“Well, it solved all the times I had your record expunged in the good old days. Seriously, buying pot from a under covered cop, I taught you better than that. Told you the signs. And you tried to bribe him with sex.”

“Well, so if you can’t solve this with your lawyering skills, that are the only skills you have besides soccer moming and nagging, maybe you could value _my plans_ a little bit.”

“Steal from your own job. Do you really thing no one will recognize you? Annie, please-“.

“Will you just stop, God. Bad reality TV is happening right here. Let’s watch some and them reunite so we can discuss new plans.”

Thank God for Ruby.

“Maybe-“.

“Annie, shut up”.

“I don’t know, but we could ask mom- “ Annie tried, but she knew that it wasn’t an option. Their mother threw away everything that reminded her of Henry and their time together. She threw herself away in her work and almost drowned in depression. The only thing that she lived for was her grandchildren and even then, she sometimes couldn’t even smile. Beth knew why. She had her father’s eyes, Annie had his everything else. The kids all had something, and her mum had nothing else.

“No.”

“Beth…”

“No. End of story. If you are angry at dad because he tried to protect us, you should also blame a woman who let herself go when she had a teen daughter to take care of, and we were all grieving. She just gave up, disappeared for a year after. I appreciate her as a grandma, but she left us, Annie. She even moved away. She couldn’t even look me in the eye and-“ Say it in her face. That it was her fault. She was the one to blame. That was the truth. Somehow, even underinformed, Siena looked at Beth and saw the reason her father was killed. She knew it was true, but her own mother to just blame her and leave her alone with her guilt. 

At least she didn’t take Annie away. Beth had already lost too much. Her father, her friends, her uncle, her life. Herself

“C’mon Beth.”

“No, Anne.” Shit was getting real. “I will not call mother, and neither will you. First of all, I don’t have the money to go there. Or you forgot that your dear old mother left for a year in Europe without even telling us.

“She told me.”

“In a message a month later. And you know how she is. She doesn’t have any money. She threw everything away, just like all of us.”

“We could ask Miguel. You know, he had ties with some cartel or something, from his old ‘hood. Maybe he could get us some blood money. Or at least some contacts in the black market. Cheaper drugs for Ruby, a sketchy way to keep Greg away and I don’t know, for you-”

“God, Annie! Cartel? Do you think that this is any better than your crazy idea to rob that fucking store that you work for? Geez.” Ruby was so done with the craziness. “We need to reboot, ladies. Beth as a lawyer, becoming thieves, asking your mom. Those are dumb ideas. Annie, why don’t you shut your mouth and stop with the bad ideas, Beth, you stop thinking too much, I look at ya and I instantly have a headache. Let’s relax a little. Okay ladies, I’ll go to buy those gross danishes for you, Elizabeth, and donuts for the rest of us, normal people. You, my friend, you call that Indian place and use our coupon. Order our usual, maybe a bit more. Annie, you’ll go to your house and get the booze I know you have hidden in there. We do that and meet back here in 30.”

“Yes, Ruby.” Annie said and left without looking at Beth once. Brat.

“You, stop criticizing her in your mind.” She said to Beth, so certain she jumped a little frightened.

“Shit.”

“I know you to well, boo. Don’t worry, she crazy, we’ll find an easier, _and legal,_ way to solve all of our problems.”

Ruby was a saint. Beth was with her 100%.

But she was also fucked.

Royally.

Especially after Dean told her they could lose everything.

Even more fucked then she thought. And in the end of the day, Annie and Ruby were in the same boat, so they robbed the fucking store. And, of course, Annie fucked everything up by being careless and even buying a fucking expensive car with the clearly illegal money they had. In retrospect, Beth should’ve known.

They did a sloppy job that Beth had to do everything to cover the traces of. During the robbery she couldn’t appear experienced in this kind of thing, not in front of her sister and best friend. But really, how could Annie be so reckless?

She also had to burn the money. All her third of the half million dollars they stole.

Not that she was in the clear, letting pride rule her and having a confrontation with Amber, the idiot mistress of her idiot excuse of a husband. Or Ruby, taking her baby to the doctor. But she should’ve known, and they should have sat on it for a little longer, until was cool enough that there would be no aftermath getting rid of it (or spending it). Years after she would have no regrets because that led her to a better life but waking up to that mess was very dangerous. Especially because she vowed to never do things like this again.

So, of fucking course, they got caught. Even with all the measures she took to prevent it. Because thirty grand became half a mill and store cash from the vault was laundered money from a gang.

Really.

Just her fucking luck.

So, when all she wanted was to soak in her bath for at least an hour, in silence, with a glass – erase that, make it a bottle – of the expensive wine she still had in the cellar (bourbon was her favorite, but gets her too hyped up), she got a bunch of strange men in her kitchen instead.

“Nah, he’s good”.

Shit.

She screamed. What the fuck? Unbelievable Annie. God, she’s never going to follow through with one of her plans again, that’s for sure. She is also gonna kill her. How could she be so stupid?

But she also covered their track. God, was the job even more badly planned then she thought? It must have been something that happened in the vault. Or she was too sleep deprived and desperate that she was sloppy. Too rusty, maybe.

Who are they?

That’s what she thought when she watched her groceries fall all over the floor. And then she looked up.

It was almost like an electric shock.

In front of her was all that she craved for the last twelve years (or all her life, really), staring at her with the most handsome face she ever saw, a fucking neck tattoo that her tongue was burning to trace, the sexiest voice she ever heard and a gold gun that had her heart beating rapidly from excitement, she remained calm.

No need to break promises.

They would get the money back. For sure. Easy. No need to go to her safe house, enter the bunker underneath and go to her safe and unlock her old life. No need to use the communicator to find a number she promised herself she never would use. No need at all. It was just money. So what if she lost all her inheritance building that stupid business for her husband as a nice cover for a normal life and said husband lost it all buying himself some gross sex with an overgrown child. She would get some, fast, without resorting to her old ways. She promised Steve. She owned to her daddy. She promised for Annie and her mom. Ruby, her amazing friend. She promised for her kids. For their kids. They would be fine.

When he told her to call them up, she did.

“Suburban life got too boring for you, yeah?” he asked, fifteen minutes into the silence. She looked at him. What should she say to him? Yes, for fuck’s sake I’ve been so bored in the last thirteen years that this almost sounds like a dream.

A bit of a nightmare, really. But also a dream. Everything she have been waiting for. Especially when everything was that man in front of her.

“What? No.”

Lies.

“Tell me why, then. Tired of reading Cosmo and sipping wine with your girl pals? Was that a bet? Or a way of getting attention, cause I’ll tell ya, you got mine. Not in a particularly good way, but maybe that can change.”

She could tell that it was a least a bit in a good way. Because all the fire starting up in her insides was mutual, she was sure. His eyes were burning her skin.

“Beth, c’mon, what is the emergency, you dramatic lady. Is just money, c’mon. Or did something else happened with you fuck ass husband and you want to let loose? I know a guy that likes to screw older woman.”

The sexy guy chuckled and arched his eyebrow, looking at her and licking his lips. Shit, she was feeling so hot she was scared he could feel the heat coming off her.

“Annie, shut up, for God’s sake. Beth, you sounded weird-“ Ruby was saying when she saw the guys. “What the fuck?”

“Surprise!” he said. “C’mon, sit. You ladies have a lot to explain.”

They looked at her in fear. Yeah, just her luck.

All of them sat on the corner of her kitchen, apprehensive. Who were they? And who was the sexy guy she couldn’t stop looking at.

There he was. No talking about spaghetti sauce. Nice touch, subtle. She felt Annie nudge her. Yes, because when she planned a robbery she didn’t think about the consequences, specially not when the thirty grand became almost a tip compared with the money they got.

Was Annie really her sister? Because one thing that she never did was not think about stuff she did, how would that affect her and everyone around her.

Ruby was saying she knew it was shady. Of course, it was! She just thought it was like the manager guy shady, not street gang shady.

“We can get it back” she said. They could, they were resourceful. Most of it was safe at least.

“That be great.” Why was she focusing on him rather than the problem? Frankly Elizabeth, focus.

“Most of it.” Oh, Anne. God.

What?

Was she serious? Have Beth taught her nothing?

Well, Beth taught her plenty. Elizabeth that should have taught her more things. Like having a little of tact while dealing with dangerous situations.

Just a smidge. For fuck’s sake, Anne Margaret, just shut up.

“Sorry what?”

Sorry what, indeed.

“Some of it, for sure.”

Ruby was pissed. With reason. So was Beth. With every passing second, she was discovering that, of fucking course, Annie had blown all the money away on trivial things.

She had to leave her babies with Dean. She didn’t know how that man would react, how he worked, how much of a threat he really was. She was, for the first time, realizing that when the ones she loved were in immediate danger, she got scared a little bit.

She wasn’t used to it, she didn’t like it at all.

It’s just money, she thought, _I can turn this around_.

Of course, Annie’s answer to everything was now crime, so she just wanted to spill half an hour worth of scalding water on her body and reprocess all the information.

She was barely started with her shower when she heard struggle. Were they back? Already? No, the guy wouldn’t kill them without having his money back. At least partially.

Annie was in danger.

The alarm in her head basically screamed and she was in Elizabeth mode. She moved like a cat, swiftly but quiet.

Annie’s creepy boss was trying to rape her and there was a voice saying, “ _just kill him with your bear hands, use the floss on the sink, torture him a little first_ ”, but she buried it. There’s no way she’ll kill him in front of Annie, she’ll never accept her.

 She threatened him instead. He saw through her and she got a little violent. But everything was under control, he was alive. No promises broken. No need to be a hellraiser and just add murder to list of things she did in front of her sister in the last couple of weeks. No need to have to get rid of a body too. Without help, it would take a little effort.

She didn’t want to admit, but shit got out of hand after that. Things escaladed fast. When she thinks about it, she doesn’t know how everything could go so wrong so fast.

Murphy’s law and all.

And then they almost robbed an old lady and tried to sell figurines to a gangbanger.

When he yelled at them, she almost couldn’t repress the moan that formed in her throat. His eyes were pure fire. She was sure she didn’t contain the matching fire from her eyes. When the big guy with the face (and head) tattoos had the gun aimed at her head, she closed her eyes. Even after so long, she knew she could disarm him easily and kill all of them without even needing the gun. She could use her pumps on the nearest two and the various utensils she could use along the way to kill the rest were already glowing. At least twenty killing plans were already formed in her head.

Instead, she called him an idiot. She cried and faked fear and talked him out of it. She was so panicked on the outside, but her pulse was steady. She was almost a little bored. Definitely turned on though.

She had problems, for sure. Someone should please have her admitted in a psychiatry ward or something. She needs an evaluation.

When he left, she almost missed him. And right after she thought she would have to end up killing Boomer, but Annie’s idea saved her from breaking her promise.     

She really was her sister. Reckless, but a genius sometimes.

She then had to brave the world of technology and find a way to work her TV without needing Dean, because hell would freeze before she would have him in her house again.

The man was teaching Kenny math and her heart stopped. Her first thought was to kill him like a lioness protecting her cub or just show him what she could do, just give him a taste. That lasted two seconds and when her baby has inside the house, she looked over him and all she could think of was to find a way to satisfy him, make him forget about the money. She knew she could do it, he certainly looked at her hungry enough.

But she didn’t and then Canada happened. The most difficult was to pretend to be Beth Boland, scared shitless, when she was actually excited about this, finally doing something that gave her an adrenaline rush for the first time in over a decade. Going in an adventure, not knowing what to expect.

Every misstep Annie took got Beth a little higher on her old addiction. It was almost like shooting up pure serotonin in her reward center. Pure adrenaline in her veins. She had to pretend she couldn’t break all the bones of the idiot between them and the package.

When she went to him, she tried resolving things being good ol’ Beth Boland, house wife extraordinaire. When didn’t pay off, she started planning. Maybe just a little show of what she could do to him oughta do.

Ruby surprised her with the gun. She was so shocked to see this new threatening and determined side of her best friend that she almost couldn’t control the laugh after the gun went off. Ruby’ face though. She faked panic, but she was relived. They made it.  

Discovering the fake money was interesting. The minute she saw the wrapping paper she knew what it was. Damn, they weren’t a little street gang, this shit meant business. It looked almost too real to be fake. She pretended not to know what it was, when handling the paper.

Arriving at the warehouse and seeing the beautiful orchestra of crime in there made her so hot, she left her pearls. It wouldn’t be until much later that she would realize that it was the same one she watched for hours at the rendez-vous date. There were a lot of them near there, all looking the same and three years since she saw it.

Annie fucked up again by leaving a virtual print on the car, so Beth had to put it in the bottom of the river. Things wouldn’t go as smoothly as she wanted with Annie screwing it up every other day. She would leave them in trouble. But even then, she told herself she could continue being Beth Boland and having a little fun for old time’s sake. And she needed the money; not only for her and her babies, but for her girls.

And when she left her pearls, she convinced herself that it was just for the money. Not for the opportunity to have a little fun or to stare at those dark eyes again. No way. They needed the money. Period.

Walking around at the warehouse she could hear her uncle’ voice reciting her the only commandment. Back away at the first sign of danger, don’t push too far. She knew she could handle it, but she wasn’t alone anymore. She had Ruby and Annie, her children. But no money. _You’re doing the right thing, Beth._

“You know the tradition is Jordans over a phone line, right?”.

“I only had pumps” she said, nonchalant.

“Fair enough”. His gaze was burning her, like always. It had some much charge behind it.

The few seconds of silence felt like hours. He looked satisfied that she called for him, that she left her pearls, that she wanted to see him again. It was clear as day that he wanted her as well.

“So, what’d you wanna talk to me about?”

If she was being frank, even she didn’t know. She just wanted to see him again, she wanted to feel this good again. She also needed the money, so she went with that.

It just about the money. Forget the danger, forget the thrill, forget those fiery dark eyes.

But when she woke up at 3 AM that night, sweaty and with an ache between her legs, from a dream of a tattooed body against hers, rough hands keeping her down, she almost let herself smile. She never had an orgasm brought up by a man (or thoughts of a man) before. The rare occasions she needed the release that badly, she thought about how she felt high on adrenaline and did it herself.

She got up and went to the shower, burning hot, and washed away her desire. Promised to control herself.

Things got better and worse.

There was a man in Emma’s bed. That was not the deal. But apparently, she had to do what he told her to. Rio. Such an unusual name, but it suited him.

The kid ran away with her car after pulling a gun on them. And then, for the icing on the cake, Dean promised Kenny a party they couldn’t afford. So, when they realized they could get him the best one and not spend a dime, they had a little fun. She remembered that it was for moments like this that she kept her promise. To see all her babies happy, her girls having fun, everything going well and everyone happy. She needed to protect all of them.

When she saw Rio by the door she went inside. He questioned Dean’s perfect husband credentials, if only he knew.

He called her a bitch in her face and if her soon-to-be-ex-husband hadn’t barged in, she was sure she would jump him. The way he made her tick, the way he frustrated her. But she knew why she was frustrated: he was the boss. In their little situation here, he was on top, on control, and she wasn’t used to this. She found out that it made her insides frozen and her pulse quickened. She looked at him, his lips. It was almost magnetized, they attracted each other, but-.

“Beth, you-you okay?” Of course, Dean. Dean, trying to be the faithful and reliable husband he hasn’t been since ever, probably. She was always so focused in looking normal she never realized that he was nothing like she built him in her head.

She could have been normal and have a more fulfilling life.

But then again, she wouldn’t have her babies, and for all the regrets she had, they weren’t on the list. If she could change things, she always would keep them.

Dean tried to look tough and kind of impose himself to Rio, who walked like a king, like a lion among his subjects and left with a “Cars, huh?”.

Yeah, cars. He had a business. A business that she built for him and he destroyed by himself.

Fucking the secretary.

Using her money to do so.

Taking risks in investments he didn’t understand. Leaving her stuck in the suburbs with no money, no name, no reputation, no way to take care of her family.

She ignored his confused look. Let him think he was a lover, let him think anything he wants, she doesn’t care.

But he thinks he has rights, over her, over the house. No, she always belonged to no one. Not even herself. She was lost. But everything else, everything else she bought with her dead father’s money and he threw away. All she wants when he gets demanding in the kitchen is punch him. First break his nose, then knee him in the stomach, finish him with a kick in the balls, make sure he doesn’t impregnate his mistress and give her children unwanted siblings.

She wants to take everything from him. She needs to see the pre-nup her father arranged. But that was when he was alive, and she was his heiress. She built him the business in her own volition. She needed to study the papers, see what she owned. She was so worried with belonging that she forgot you can’t trust anyone. Last of all, men.

Men that caused wars, made deals, broke peace, sold things, sold people, sold secrets and countries. Men who were thirsty for power, for money, for women. Men who took everything with their privilege, never looking back or down.

Men who think themselves invincible and use weakness to try and fake their way in. Giving them a sense of security and going for the jugular.

He had cancer. At least that was what he made her believe for a while.

She cried. For her children, for herself, for him, a little. For the good father that he was, besides everything. For the good husband she built in her mind and he played the part for a couples of years. For the boy he was when she met him and realized how she could have power over men. One of her first thrills.

For the years together. For her situation that worsened every second. And Annie was there for her, and she cried for that too. Because she could do so much more, she should tell her, she should break away from Rio. Maybe now that she was an outlaw, she should build her own business, she sure had the skills for it.

But something held her back.

_No, Elizabeth. No. There is something here, explore a little longer, everything will go accordingly._

_Just go to him._

_He is the answer to all your problems, you know this._

_He is what you’ve been waiting for all your life._

Something was telling her that she needed to see where this would take her. Something was telling her it would be worth it. That night she dreamed of him again, trapping her against his body, too much heat surrounding her. She liked feeling like that, hadn’t felt like that in a long time.

His lips barely touched her and then her alarm went off.

She set up a meeting and the sold him their idea.    

They propositioned him. To win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Rio finally appeared. I really enjoy the show' scenes, but I left a little vage because I won't follow some of the details. Like, Beth and Dean are married for 20 years (doesn't make sense to me, except if they were married right off high school, but he said she never worked besides during high school because she had to take care of the kids, but her oldest is 11, so what did she do during those 9 years? So they are "together" for 20, not married. She was a lawyer, because I might want to use that in the future.  
> So I changed some things, and yes they possibly met before, maybe I'll work some things on this angle.   
> We'll see.


	4. Reascension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She gets pulled over and it’s empty. It’s fucking empty. He was testing her, the prick. But it wasn’t until after the truck, when he called her the name she was trying to bury and lock behind seven keys, that she lost control.  
> And by losing control she lost him.  
>  _Elizabeth._  
>  Go home.  
> No fucking way. Things would end when she said so. How dare he?  
> And that resulted in that stupid plan to get back at him. She didn’t know why she did that until she was pointing the gun at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if there is someone still reading this. But I felt like writing it.  
> Now we are done with the timeline of the show, I still don't know how I'm going to take this to where I want, but I have already some happenings planned.  
> Shit's gonna hit the fan, man.

The following weeks developed a pattern. Annie would screw up, they would get in and out of trouble, but Beth never broke character. Years drowning her past instincts made sure that she always remained Beth Boland. She never needed to reveal her real self. Not to Annie and Ruby. Not to their gang buddies. Not even to herself late at night when all she wanted was that high again.

She’s been thinking. Maybe six months of this. She could do it. And then she would go back to being a perfect mother. A thoughtful sister. A reliable friend. But now a divorcée. Maybe she would go back and become a lawyer, to work for her money. And she also would screw Rio just one time to get it out of her system. As a farewell, never to see again. Six months and one night.

There were times where things were rough. Like when Annie screwed up, she always thought she would have to end their business with the gang old Eliza style. But she always fixed it with grace (if you call searching a receipt in a dumpster grace).

The FBI agent was a surprise and worried her. She remembers the warnings.  It was the first time since meeting the gang that left her shaking, afraid. She remembers her uncle saying to avoid police, specially from those agencies. Her old employer often consulted for the FBI. Maybe Agent Turner worked for the corrupt institution that destroyed their old agency. Maybe he was using the gang to get closer to her. Did he recognize her? No, he wasn’t that old. He probably wasn’t even in the academy when everything went down. Or was he? Yeah, maybe. But not high level. But even then, she was afraid. The corrupt were everywhere, from road officers to Special Agents.

She thought about quitting. That wasn’t an option. The way Rio looked at her when Annie told the piano story, so curious and wanting to know more about her, a little more of this and she would explode. There was no quitting him either. They were gonna crash and burn. Burn spectacularly. Like wildfire in the desert.

That meant she had to deal with the FBI guy on her own.

She had even used her old ways and a few contacts and investigated. Nothing pressing, everything about him appeared legit. He was just an FBI agent, he wasn’t special forces, he wasn’t connected to deeper causes and non-governmental independent agencies. When searching about him, she tried to ignore the thrill. In the car with Rio, she almost acted all her dreams when he told her to tell he was hitting it.

“Make me sound good though, yeah?”

The lie she told Agent Turner was based on one of her most satisfying dreams. Lying was one of the only things that thrilled her that she got to keep in her new life. She would do it all the time. At first, was to Dean, so she could be free. She would tell him she would go shopping and then she would go to the shooting range. There was a time where she said she would visit her mum and then went to France with the little money she had saved by that time. She visited her family on the cemetery and walked around. Went to Paris and to the old HQ. It was a journalism building now.

She went to the countryside and dove in the almost frozen waters of the small lake in her old family’s property. It was the only one they didn’t dispose of. The place where she was born in. The place where her parents were married in. She went in and read many books in the old library and went to see the horses. The neighbor was left to take proper care of the house, in exchange of use of the grounds. The vineyard still produced a lot to be profitable, but today it basically paid the ground care and the neighbors’ service.

She spent a whole month there upon the nearing of her father’s death first anniversary. She was also pregnant for the first time, thing that she didn’t know at the time. She would go back, pass the bar and discover Kenny.

After that, she did that in all her pregnancies. She would sit by her father’s grave and cry her eyes out. She would tell him stories about her babies, Annie and Sadie, her mum. She would plead him to send her a sign if uncle Steve was alive, because something deep inside her said he was.

She used to lie to Annie and Ruby too. About her time in college and the charity work she did around the world during the time she was at the agency. She would lie to her mum about the circumstances of everything that happened.

After lying to the FBI though, she realized the lying was a coping mechanism for her. A way to transform her life into enough of a fairytale she used to dream of as a child.

“Then he kissed me, I kissed him back, he pulled my panties down and we screwed right on the kitchen table, on the breakfast dishes. The kids had pancakes. Blueberry, if you were wondering. It only happened once, and I never saw that man again. And I don’t plan to.” She planned a little. To see him again, a lot. Maybe even in that situation, if she only had the courage to mix up her current life with her old even more.

“Thank you for coming in.”

She turned and left, a little thrust of hips in her walk _. Seduce them, trick them and they will hold no power over you._

“Mrs. Boland” he said when she was almost out the door. She turned and faced him. “Just be careful who you bring into your home.”

“I’m tougher than I look”. Wasn’t that the truth?

When she said all that and he bought it, she was almost smug. But later, she hated it. Because thinking about doing that and saying good bye the next day (or just right after) was a disappointment. She yearned for more.

The next encounters just fed her imagination, just made her body burn for him even more. She cried in front of Dean, pretending to be the weak Bethy he always loved best (and that never really existed).

Then she asked Rio about business and he said he flipped his game. Another thing she asked her contact was for information on him. He delivered, but she didn’t read it. Opening that file was admitting she wanted him.

She wasn’t ready for that.

So, she told the girls about the six-month plan and the honeypot. She flipped her game.

The thrill of using something as trivial as shopping, something so housewifey, to launder money, was unbelievable.

She demanded more.

Paying Dean up like the stereotypical husband given the wife money for a shopping spree was a high point in her life. Suck it up, I’m the boss now, you better get used to it.

_I gave it all I had to you, Dean. Thought that you could do the very least that is expected from a suburban husband._

Throwing her money at him, even with her disappointment reminding him, that even though he was always the one to work, all that money was hers. And he lost it, then she had to step in. Be a better man of the house than him. Boy, that had to sting.

She didn’t care if it stung. He failed her. She didn’t even care about the cheating that much (all anger left her when she trashed his office). She cared about her legacy, something her father provided for them and she made it so easy for him to manage. And in the end, he prioritized buying his secretary expensive lingerie instead of saving money for his kids’ college.

When he left, she felt powerful.  

The book club meeting. Annie even scared her a little with her crazy speech. There it was, a little of their father’s passion and excitement and skill for talking to crowds (his way of more calm, but still).

 Beth didn’t have that, she was a subtle manipulator at heart, doing it like a silent infection, working her way to the heart and mind without no one even noticing.

Just like Rio did to her, wasn’t that ironic?

She was proud of Annie and her DNR lecture. She was her sister after all, she loved her, but that was a little proud moment for Annie as a Mérrieux. She had their way for exceeding expectations after all. Beth loved her, but she always thought that after pregnancy Annie settled for underachievement. Her sister was an amazing mother to such an amazing child. Sadie was everything and Annie was meant to be her mother. They were made for each other.

But she had such a cunning mind and heart. She remembers Annie’s dream of being a doctor when very little and then a psychologist. How she wanted to help the misfits, all the kids in her school that didn’t belong, that were special.

When this ended, and they were fine and with money again, she would praise Annie for her specialness, really appreciate her as a sister and as an intelligent young woman. Maybe help her find her way. She was meant to be helping people, not working in a dead-end money-laundering grocery store under a creepy boss.  

In the end, the book club was a success.

But that little voice that told her she knew she shouldn’t have brought other people in the mix was right after all, but the expanding of their business was too much of a high to turn down.

She even bought a stupid necklace (emerald cut, her mother’s favorite – her father would always take her shopping for those).

She really should have remembered Ophelia, and how it is always the ones you don’t expect.

Then Annie got herself picked for drugs. Beth hates there’s nothing she can do this time. Maybe call her old mentor. How could Annie make her so proud one day and then do something even stupider than rob a grocery store.

She threw the cinnamon schnapps at prom on her face and then she cried. Said Boomer set her up and Beth was fueled with hatred. She is gonna murder him, she just knows. It’s a matter of time.

No, Annie. You are not going to lose Sadie, not on her watch. They are gonna get through this. Even if Beth must sleep with every guy in her old firm to get her way.

But first things first. The stake out. Annie won’t shut up, but her thirst for killing Heather amuses Beth to no end. She just doesn’t show it. It would be inappropriate

But God, she hates stake outs so much. She never liked then. She hates waiting, she was always an action kind of girl. She would just make things go her way.

And then: Mary Pat. That was a surprise.

Everything going down when they were talking her, was not.

Annie talking too much as a given. The nerve of Mary Pat’s demand wasn’t. But she understood, she was a lioness with her cubs and no pride. Alone.

She spent some time watching her, her steps. Like watching a prey. She had to deal with her some way or another.    

The fight with Ruby hits her hard. When she called Beth an “evil mastermind”, it was like a slap in the face. Beth was too much like Elizabeth now and even Ruby saw. She was finally letting her true self show and people weren’t understanding. That worried her. Very much.

Annie was so angry. Angry because she didn’t think Beth was an evil mastermind. How would she react to the truth? Beth had to get back the control to her life. She had things as Beth that she loved too much to exchange for a thrill. Annie didn’t think she could be evil mastermind because her Beth was such a calm and delicate person, helping, raising, adoring.

That night she saw that Annie was angered by the thought of Beth being more decisive, more dangerous, more like the one she really was. And when she saw that Ruby wouldn’t love her this way, that hurt. A lot.

Ruby’s face when Annie said they were blood, hurt more. She didn’t understand that Ruby was blood too. She was the first one she allowed to also be a queen in her kingdom. She was her sister through and through. She also helped raise Annie.

Beth was so angry. At Annie, at herself. But she came down apathic, lying down the floor, shower running. Even Dean helped her.

God, she hated that she never saw it coming.  

She almost went back to Mary Pat’s house after and silenced her with threats. But she was still doing this Beth Boland style. She was not going to bring Elizabeth back. She saw herself in Mary Pat. Someone so frustrated, that after given their husbands all the children they wanted in their boring life dreams, they were left alone to fend for them using their housewife tools for survival. But even then, every time Mary Pat was condescending towards her, she would imagine herself bludgeoning her to death. If something her days as a spy taught her was that she did not respond well to threats.

Unless they were Rio’s. There was something she never felt that he had awakened in her. It was almost a reflex to follow what he said. She never had been submissive in any sense of the word, but when she thought about him, whispering orders in her ear in that sexy menacing tone, she felt a spark igniting inside her.

“C’mon, just gimme a name.”

“Beth Boland.” They lock eyes and it’s almost like it’s someone else’s name. Not her at all. Not anymore. She’s not gonna be Boland for long. She’s no Beth anymore. Going back to Marks feeling wrong. Her father is dead.

She’s Elizabeth Mérrieux. She can feel him watching her, so she turns.

“And don’t ever point a gun at me again.”

He watches her go. He wants her, she can tell.

She wants him as well and she doesn’t know how much longer she can avoid this. She is scared, that’s the only way he scares her. The way he strips her soul bare, with his gaze and reads her so well. And ignite this fire, this burning need within her, deep inside.

She would lay in her bed deep into the night, thoughts of him holding her down and caressing her, firing up her skin. She would feel the vibrations of his touch, like if a lightning bolt touched sand. She would tremble imagining his hands on her neck, pressing oh so lightly, leaving her breathless. Him, denying her need to touch him by holding her hands away. She would press her nails deep in her palms, drawing blood. The minute he released her, she would run her nails in his back, mark him as hers, cause him a little pleasured pain. She knew it would be rough between them, almost driven crazy by hatred and lust.

That was what it was, right? Lust and frustration? Like she finally met her match, someone who would light the flame of desire inside her. It would happen one time to satiate her and then she would be free. And in six months’ time she would be totally free, and she would look for someone. Someone she could love and desire, that would care for her and her children. That would help her choose a path to follow. Maybe far away from this place. Maybe she would go back to France, take her babies to meet Grandpa, stay in the house that it’s hers and live off it. A simple life with the one thing she loves more than the thrill: her children. Maybe take Annie with her, Ruby. If they need to escape, they can go there. Only if Ruby ever forgives them.

But if there is one exception to the rule of Ophelia (that is what she names the way people you trust the most and never expect can betray you the most), is Ruby.

Ruby is her soulmate, she is the sun every morning. Beth used to think that if Ruby had never met Stan and Beth would still be a spy, she and Ruby would live together, as partners in life. Share an apartment or live across the hall from each other. Both free women, that loved and respected each other.

She thought that Ruby would never fall in love, because she wasn’t like the other girls she knew. She thought Ruby was like her.

They wouldn’t need a man to be happy.

They would be roommates. Maybe adopt a kitten. And then a kid, teach her how to be a queen. She used to think, as a kid, that Ruby was the one. The one person that was meant to be in her life forever, united with something thicker than blood. The one she chose.

She thought that Ruby, who never liked boys that much would be her family. Her sister, the one-person Beth found that was perfect for her, that wasn’t blood. It was more, so much more.

Stan was the love of Ruby’s life. But she was Beth’s. It wasn’t romantic love. Beth knows her sexuality, even as a weapon, was fluid enough. She knew no men never touched her right, never gave her pleasure. She had her experiences, she had another partner there was in no way like Ruby, because it was just fire.

But Ruby was everything.

Elizabeth used to think they would grow old together as friends, they chose to be sisters. She used to think that Ruby was like her, would never love a man, because men didn’t deserve Ruby.

Except for Stan, and Beth was so glad she was wrong – about Ruby, because she was too blind to see she was wrong about herself too. Still, Ruby was the non-family (blood or work related) one in her life. Even Miguel and James were family-adjacent. But Beth chose Ruby by herself. They chose each other.

Ruby was her lightning bolt. The one for her.

She just didn’t think she would have another one. A lightning bolt doesn’t strike the same place twice was the biggest lie ever told.

Because Beth got two. Two soulmates. She just took much longer to recognize her second.

“I thought this was a onetime deal.” _Don’t you dare, Mary Pat. Don’t make me seriously want to hurt you._

“Tsk. Yeah, I- I mean I thought I was a secret shopper” the cynical way she said it, it makes Beth’s blood boil like you wouldn’t believe.

Oh, Mary Pat, you made her a ticking bomb now. You won’t want to deal with the consequences of the explosion.

Stopping the work for the gang hits her hard. She is so bored with her soccer mom friends and school talk.

Given Mary Pat illegal money is one thing, but when they have to actually work for it, it’s maddening.

Mary Pat threatening to tell Stan, threatening Ruby angers Beth too much. So, she suggests a new robbery to leave her a little high on adrenaline, to keep her calm enough that she won’t do anything reckless.

And she calls Frank, a senior partner at the old firm and takes one for the team. I mean, Annie is contrary to crime for one and now Sarah is following their steps by shoplifting, so she needs to do everything she can.

So she goes to her old office after hours and screws the then associate and now senior partner that always had the hots for her. She uses up all her tricks and leaves him breathless with a promise for more upon delivery.

When she tells Annie, she can ditch her dead-end criminal lawyer because she got one pro-bono for her, it’s almost worth it. But inside it almost feels like cheating, and she’s not talking about Dean. And that worries her.

And when Annie comes back with an idea, she goes with it. She silently ignores the “Suck it, Nance” for what it means. She knows her sister like she still knows the practiced moves of incapacitating someone and holding them down, like she knows her perfect French and all other languages. Like she knows the nuances of her father’s resting place. She is too invested in Greg’s relationship, so something happened.

She ignores it, waits until Annie inevitably comes to her. 

They rob the three places. She should’ve known it would backfire. _Annie, you don’t use injectables to talk about Botox_ , she wants to scream.

But the unroll of Botox thing was hilarious for her. Seeing Rio again is a thrill she pretends she doesn’t feel.

“And you best not put that stuff in your face. You don’t need it.”

She takes a cold shower before sitting down to think how she’ll move it. Dean helping was a surprise. Maybe the cancer was making him a little magnanimous. Or maybe even he was tired of being useless.

She goes see Mary Pat. Dig a little. She knows that if Mary Pat wasn’t a woman, or even better, a mother, she already be dead. Elizabeth doesn’t like being owned.

Annie comes to her. She must talk to Greg once again. Remember him to not make her sister miserable.

When Ruby finds out about Eddie, Elizabeth wanted to tell him right away. It feels like her duty. Her loyalty to Rio scares her. The FBI again. She must tell him, protect him.

_What? Where did that come from? You own him nothing, Beth. It’s a business relationship. You get the fake, deliver the real. That’s all. You’re not lovers, friends, not even acquaintances._

They are finally back in business and Ruby stops her from telling. She gets worried and doesn’t like it. Blames it on the risk of doing what he said.

Dean is trying to be better. He knows now and gives her a gift. Annie doesn’t like it. Says he’s just trying to sleep with her again. As if Beth is in danger of sleeping with Dean ever again. She rather even fuck Frank. She pretends it’s not because he looks enough like Rio, black eyes and bronzed skin, that she can almost just fantasize.

Ruby gets high, Annie gets a phone call and Beth is very pleased with being back until she sees the car. Following her no less. Of all the trucks. She thinks about Turner, the way he looked at her, like trying to figure her out. Maybe he knew all along, maybe the team had the rendez-vous, but they didn’t dismantle all the corruption left after the end of their agency. Maybe she should have never gotten mixed up with crime just for her adrenaline kick. Maybe she should’ve just fucked Rio when she left the pearls and moved on.

And she never got them back even. What was that about? He had money. Maybe she should stop acting crazy. She knew why he had them and all she wanted was to use that as an excuse to drop by his house (she could find out where it was if she wanted) with a trench coat and nothing under it. Or even better, a lingerie match that would put Dean’s bimbo’ one to shame. Leather and lace. She would dance for him, a little seduction, a bit of burlesque. Ask for the pearls and use them.

She needs to fuck him so bad. Just one and out of her system it goes.

She gets pulled over and it’s empty. It’s fucking empty. He was testing her, the prick. But it wasn’t until after the truck, when he called her the name she was trying to bury and lock behind seven keys, that she lost control.

And by losing control she lost him.

_Elizabeth._

_Go home._

No fucking way. Things would end when she said so. How dare he?

And that resulted in that stupid plan to get back at him. She didn’t know why she did that until she was pointing the gun at him.

She wasn’t scared (why would she?). She wasn’t worried. He didn’t threat them, she knew that then and knows it now (but maybe now he _is_ going to hurt them – well, not them, she’d die but take them with her, save everyone, that’s why she did the calendar).

She knew why, crystal clear now. Fuck.

She was looking at her lying son of a bitch of an ex-husband’s (definitively, now) bloody face when she realized she had met her King, and boy oh boy all of this was her courtship.

She was hurt that he discovered her as Elizabeth that night but didn’t take her like she wanted. So, she punished him. She was petty to use the girls. What if there were guys there, doing the same to them? Threatening them?

No.

Hell no.

She knew Ruby was well, in the hospital. So was Annie. She made sure of it, courtesy of Frank. She never used Elizabeth’s skills unless it was for protecting her girls, her babies. But not herself, oh no. She never thought about herself, her needs. Others always came first.

So, with the golden gun, an ever so present prop in her dreams, in her hand, she finally did what she wanted for so long.

She broke a promise and let the beast out.

Welcome back, Elizabeth. You’re home.

“Please, Rio, this is just another part of our game. I can recognize when I have a loaded gun in my hand, sometimes with just a touch, and this isn’t it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If someone is reading this, please let me know, so I can see if I still need to keep writing it. If you guys are liking the plot, or have any ideas, critics or questions. 
> 
> My plan is too explore Elizabeth's past a little better and also see her back on full force in the present. I also have plans to explore some things besides their relationship.  
> Rio's family, which I plan to introduce soon.  
> Annie's past with Greg and Sadie.  
> Their mom.  
> Ruby and Beth's friendship.  
> More crime stuff, like Boomer - I plan to make him suffer.  
> 


	5. One angry man and the case of a lifetime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’ve always known how men looked at me, but you were different. You saw something in me nobody else could see. I’m not playing you. I left my pearls in that warehouse because I need you and everything you can give me. I needed a way to be back, to be myself. To be free.”
> 
> “A’right. I’mma give you the benefit of the doubt, Elizabeth. You have a week to put your house in order and plea your case. I’ll be the judge. Don’t think for a second that I’ll go easy on you.”
> 
> “Never thought you would.”
> 
> They both smiled, like little kids discovering something for the first time. Like lovers uncovering each other as a whole. Learning everything, every single nuance. Like seeing the most beautiful art in front of them and discovering everything behind that beauty.
> 
> He saw her, the real her, and he loved her still. Wanted her even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. I had the beginning pretty much all done for ages, but the follow up was a little more difficult to map out. I hope the initial reveal is worth the wait.  
> Please tell me what you think.
> 
> Also, >>trigger warning!!<<, I guess.  
> Like it was briefly mentioned last chapter I think, Beth trades sex for services. That wasn't a new territory for her so it’s kind of something she was good at to have what she wanted in her old work. It was consented.

What she had just said? Oh boy.

Rio was looking at her. Confused. It was just for a second, but she caught the surprise in his eyes. It was like he knew she would try to shoot him for sure. She smiled, well, in for a penny, in for a pound. 

“What did you say, darling?” Rio laughed, but he was still a little guarded. He looked at her. “You playing again?”

The words just left her lips without permission.

“Well, obviously you wouldn’t give me a loaded gun. Even without knowing about my aim, you wouldn’t risk it. That’s why this is empty. I’m flattered that you considered me enough of a risk to give me an empty gun though.”

Rio was looking at her with confusion. It was a thrill for her, knowing that she was surprising him.

“Of course, if I wanted to kill the king to be the king, I wouldn’t need this. I could use, just from looking around and assessing for a few seconds, I could use at least seven items near me to end you.”

He was chuckling, like everything she did amused the hell out of him.

“Isn’t that right, darling?”

“I mean, with me you’ve been all talk and delegating, but if you are where you are, you probably have some skills. And I don’t know about them, so as amazing as I know it would be, I am a little out of practice. I don’t play with chance, everything I do is calculated”.

He smirked.

“Oh, that I know, Elizabeth. But you saying you are a gun kind of woman? That if that gun wasn’t empty you woulda shot me right between the eyes?”

“Yeah, you heard me, but I said could, not would. I don’t want to see you dead. You got this all wrong.”

As a matter of fact, she also got this all wrong. If she couldn’t understand her own impulsive decisions, how would the others keep up with them?

“Oh yeah? So you what exactly?”

That was a good question, God. What was she? After all this time.

She was a mother first. She was a protector, she was responsible to take care of what was left of her family. Annie, Ruby, their kids.

She was a Yale alumnus. She was a lawyer. She was an ex-wife (oh, that one was new).

She was a weapon. Unloaded.

She was lost, too many skills left alone for years, not being useful.

She was an asset.

And now, she was going to become a queen.

 “Ain’t gonna answer be, darling?” Her inside battle took too many seconds and Rio was in a hurry for answers. “You have to be fucking kidding me, yeah? You FBI, Elizabeth? You was a God damned spy all this time, undercover? I don’ believe that. You was way too attracted to all of this to be-”

She snorted.

“God, no. I’m not with the FBI, Jesus. I’m just tired of pretending.”

He looked at her like he just met her. He was so confused for just a second and then he smiled at her.

“You even better than I imagined, sweetheart.” He was suddenly so close. And then she realized that they’ve been that close for a long while. And they were whispering, tone a little harsh and menacing, a hint of lust.

He gestured to the gun and she realized she was still holding it, pointing it at Dean. She dropped her arms, gun still in hand.

“I knew it from the start, from looking at you that you was that perfect thing, yeah? The kind that only happens once in a lifetime. That you would be my perdition. A woman so perfect, everything I needed, but unreachable. Got me going crazy, Elizabeth. Made for me.”

“Yeah? Well, I like to think so, as are you, too. No, Rio, I don’t want to be the king. I want to be a queen again, but now I want to share the kingdom.”

“Really? And you think I should what? Fall on my knees and put a crown on the top of your pretty head and forget that you tried to ruin me?”

“No, I know you’re not one to forgive and forget. It is one of the things I-“ _love about you._ No. She had as least that much of self-control. “Understand. You have this- This fire.” God, Elizabeth. You must get a grip. It’s not going to be too much too soon. What would her uncle say? What about her promise, everything? Is she really undoing years of self-control and calculated steps just because she fell in love with a criminal? “You burn others with this fire, but I, for one, don’t mind the heat.”

He grinned, the bastard. One more step forward, that she realized she matched. She could almost feel it, she was burning inside. How did she not realize how deep he ran within her? That he was impregnated under her skin, deep in her blood, running in her veins.

Down to her fucking soul, branding her.  

She could just reach him and touch him and feel it, finally. Without restraints. Let it go once and for all and maybe get what she wanted and forced herself to think she couldn’t have. She could reconcile her two lives, everything was meant to happen. They had to meet one way or another.

And then Dean had to ruin everything by speaking.

“Hm, Beth? What is going on?” He looked confused, almost too disperse. It must be the painkillers and other drugs they pumped into him. But no chemotherapeutic drug, because he was a lying bastard.

A stupid one even. How she even fell for that, she would never know. Maybe some part of her wanted to be true so she could keep her promise.

To hell with that now.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on. We are divorcing, you are leaving my house and not coming back. You’ll leave me alone for a week, at least. Then we’ll talk about you being a father to my children.”

He looked confused. Yeah, that day she said they could try again. Twenty years after she thought _the hell with it, I may as well pretend something about my life is stable_.

She said yes to being with him even though they were in different paths in life, she was in Yale. Twenty years together and she never thought they would last this long.

It’s been long enough.

“Don’t look at me like this, I want you out and away from me. It’s done. Over. It’s been for a long time. Never should have lasted this long. There is no going back, no way into our old life. No sleeping in Kenny’s room, promises of a happy suburban life on the table. No limbo. Just, done.”

“B-but- I have- I am dying, Bethy.” The nerve of him, unbelievable that she spent so much time with this idiot, holding her down. She doesn’t regret it, because he gave her Kenny, Jane, Danny and Emma. But now she can see that even without her old life she could’ve had it better. Maybe she should have left him years ago, be a mom and everything else she could to be within the circumstances.

“We both know you’re not, Dean.” He might, though. If he kept this innocent dying man bullshit. “Lying about cancer, that’s a new low for you. Now leave, go to your parents and tell them that the accident was a little worse on you. Don’t call the police, don’t mention him. This never happened.”

“You are going to defend this bounce-house guy, this-this criminal that forced you to do all that-“

“I already made it clear for you I am no naïve little housewife. He didn’t force me, and he treated me better than you ever could. Just get out.”

“What about- “.

“I can handle everything here. Go away, Dean! Just disappear, get out of my sight, I could just kill you after everything. Leave! Now! GET OUT!” She pointed the empty gun at him again, pulling the trigger repeatedly as a gesture.

He looked at her, too injured to express all the surprise he was probably feeling right now. His sweet and submissive Beth yelling at him, with such anger in her eyes. Shooting at him, even with an empty gun.  

Rio was just observing, enjoying the show a little too much, a grin too smug directed straight at Dean, arched eyebrow and all. Clearly, they chatted, and Dean must’ve hit a sore stop there. Rio looked like he’d won.

She didn’t even notice Dean leaving, because once she was done yelling at him, all she could watch was Rio, who chuckled and nodded at Dean, tipping the hat. _Car man._ And then he was looking at her, too much in his eyes, but lust above all. Eyes dark behind long lashes.

“Elizabeth.”

Lightning bolt indeed. Uncle Steve was right.

But it wasn’t going to be an easy path for her. She was certain she loved the man in front of her, but can she trust him? Would he trust _her_? Again, after everything?

“Where were we?” she said, smiling.

“You. Showing me your fire, sweetheart.” He said, eyes watching her closely, top to bottom and then up again, making a little stop at her cleavage and then her eyes. “We gonna talk, Elizabeth. You almost had me locked away for good after throwing them fucking keys at my face.”

“I-“.

“No, Elizabeth. For just one fucking time you shut up and you listen. Do you even know the level of disrespect? And what I done to others for lesser things. I was so angry, Elizabeth, had been anyone else I ain’t even using the gun. It would be done. Kings make an example of people, so they can show how they rule. They ruthless, Elizabeth. No exceptions, no excuses. Medieval. You make a mistake, you pay. I make you pay, and everyone knows why. There’s no room for apologies. No room for forgiveness. It’s hell or high water.”

“Rio-“.

“The fucking nerve of you. No one never controlled me, Elizabeth. Nobody ain’t looking at me wrong or mouthing off. And you know what else? I was seeing red and even then, with all the anger, all I wanted was to press you against that truck and make you beg. You wish I was that magnanimous.”

“I- Well. That was certainly intense.”

“Intense? I should have killed in the spot. Such an entitled bitch, mouthing off, saying what you wanted. I should’ve shut you up, have you say sorry, beg all over. On your knees.” His eyes were so heated on her, she felt like she was already burning. God help her when he touched her.

“I would’ve certainly enjoyed that.”

“I know you would. Fucking minx. But answering, I’m not that magnanimous. You know what happens to damn snitches, don’t you? Yeah, them rules are as old as time.”

His words were harsh and dangerous, threatening. But she saw nothing in his eyes.

“You are not here to kill me.”

“No. It was never on my plans and you knew, and your stubborn-self went off to rob me again and write a letter to the fucking FBI. The moment they showed up I knew it was you. You better pray I’m the only one.”

“No exceptions.”

She was sure she covered the traces better this time. She even had a scape-goat and she was going to use it.

He damn sure deserved it.

“You knew you were gonna ruin me and you did it for what? Power thirst? Adrenaline kick? Revenge? No, I know why. You wanted my attention.”

Shit, she sure was an open book to him. She was hoping that he wouldn’t noticed the reasons that well. He was wrong. He was the one that would be the end of her.

Well, Beth Boland was dead anyway. She was in too deep to back off now. There’s no way she would get this skeleton back in the closet.

“I thought you were going to kill me, I-“. She tried to keep a little of her pride, but he could read her too well.

“Keep lying to yourself, sweetheart. But you can’t lie to me. I told you to go home. Shit, Elizabeth, you and your ladies were free. Fuck, it looked like that was what you wanted. And then you put me in prison. Honey, what am I going to do with you? I know, Elizabeth. You was just trying to get my attention.”

“I-I didn’t know, I was so angry, Rio.” _Thought I’d lost you,_ were the words she didn’t said.  

He knew anyway.

“You want my attention so bad you just call me and open your legs, you woulda have me on my knees, worshiping you in no time.”

“You told me to go home. I thought- We were done.”

“We ain’t never gonna be done, Elizabeth. You ain’t gonna be rid of me, yeah? Never. But you gotta learn the rules and follow them, or there will be punishment.”

“I’m ready for whatever punishment you want to give me.”

“Good. I might be more than crazy about you, Elizabeth, but you gotta respect the rules, don’t ever think otherwise just because you are special, yeah?”

 His voice was harsh, but he sounded hungry and she knew. She felt. He wanted her too much. Oh yeah, he was going to make her pay, but they always would end up the same way. He was hers already, she could tell. She would always be his, too. “You lucky I got out. Coulda gotten me in some real trouble, sweetheart.”

She laughed. Listening time was over. She could read him as well.

“Please, if you’re here now, you are far higher up then I ever thought, and they were never going to get you that easy. I’m not gonna lie to you, in the beginning, I thought you were somewhere in the middle. I mean, I know you are far cleverer than you let others see and your gang look and slang sometimes make people underestimate you. For a second, I thought you were a son, learning the ropes. But you carry yourself with too much smugness and you exhale power. You are not some small fish. You are the king, you own this town. You own everything. Me, even.”

“You think you can assess me and do what you want? Just cause I wanna fuck you into oblivion, just cause you all I wanna taste? That I wish you was everywhere, in my bed in the morning until the night. That you dominate my thoughts from dusk till dawn. That you live in my dreams.”

“I was pissed.”

“So am I, Elizabeth. I ain’t no king if I don’t have everyone’s respect. Like I said, in truth, you should be dead right now. I left thinking about killing you. Almost did your car man, because even though you tried to end me, the angry I have for him is far greater than the anger I have for you. Fucking witch, you put me under your spell.” He groaned, and she reached for him. She always imagined his arms covered in tattoos, always wanted to feel him, his skin, she always imagined that he burned hotter than his eyes.

The touch. Lightning bolt.

“I’ll have you know that killing me would be a lot more difficult then you imagine. Others far deadlier than you or your men have tried.” She felt his body heat, barely touching him, but feeling everything better than she imagined, just the warmness, the fire consuming her.

“Yeah? And so you tell me. I ask myself if you just gone crazy or you tryin’ to play me.”

“I’ve always known how men looked at me, but you were different. You saw something in me nobody else could see. I’m not playing you. I left my pearls in that warehouse because I need you and everything you can give me. I needed a way to be back, to be myself. To be free.”

“A’right. I’mma give you the benefit of the doubt, Elizabeth. You have a week to put your house in order and plea your case. I’ll be the judge. Don’t think for a second that I’ll go easy on you.”

“Never thought you would.”

They both smiled, like little kids discovering something for the first time. Like lovers uncovering each other as a whole. Learning everything, every single nuance. Like seeing the most beautiful art in front of them and discovering everything behind that beauty.

He saw her, the real her, and he loved her still. Wanted her even more.

“If you convince me, red, you better prepare because there will be punishment. You’ll have to earn my respect and forgiveness. My trust, also.”

“Of course.”

“If you don’t have a good defense, you better run and pray I don’t find ya, you hear me? Ain’t you a lawyer? Well, that’s the case of your life, darling”.

She just smiled and then with stepped into his embrace. They fit perfectly. It was almost like magnets, too difficult to contain.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She whispered in his ear. His hands were on her waist and then he put a string of hair behind her ear, hand lingering in her face. “I want things that are here too much, don’t you?”

“You know damn well I want you, Elizabeth. But you ain’t gonna have me until you cleared this mess. Until I know that I can trust you. If you weren’t so fucking stubborn, I would be having you right here in the kitchen table, over the breakfast dishes. Blueberry pancakes and all. But I have all the control now, and you ain’t deserving right this minute.”

His words were just as she said to Agent Turner. God, did he hear that? Was the office bugged or maybe Agent Turner told him, to get a reaction? Maybe he has some boys in the FBI. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

“Getting rid of car man was a good start.” He said, smiling. “I don’t share very well. One week, Elizabeth. I’ll be in touch, yeah?” He nodded to her, licking his lips, and then walked away from her house, leaving the door open. She went to her liquor cabinet and poured herself some bourbon.

Shit.

There’s no way that she would tell Rio everything. She had to lie herself through this mess. God, she never told anyone in the last 13 years at least, what just happened?

Even though she realized she wanted to fuck Rio and maybe even be a little bit in love with him (okay, a lot in love with him), that didn’t mean that she wanted him to know. Being honest with herself, he probably knew. He knew how to read her too well. Knew everything about her. Just not her old life, but that she had buried too deep no one would know. Not even his freaky mind reading prowess could dig that up. For now.

But it was just seeing him and then she just told him. Fuck, he was totally wrong, he was the one that had her under his spell. She robbed a fucking store just to get his attention, dammit.  

She was so screwed.

She drank the bourbon in one go and poured another glass. She needed help. The girls, she needed the girls’ help.

No. No. She couldn’t tell them that she involved them in her sick power play with Rio. That she risked everything to get his attention again.

Who could help her find an excuse to fool a gang leader? Rio wouldn’t accept that she was just playing him. Maybe she could pretend to be FBI, but it was too risky. And no one would believe that her sister was a FBI agent.

Maybe she could just tell the truth, that she was a manipulative woman used to having her way and he had awakened something in her and she wanted everything her way, play the part of crazy lover a bit, but-

No. That wouldn’t get him to trust her.

God. It was too hard.

She wasn’t ready for him to know. For anyone to know for that matter. No one knew, not even her mother and sister. Not even her best friend or her ex-husband and father of her children. Shit. She needed her uncle right know. Her father. Her friends, her old self. What could she do to earn the respect of the gang leader she had fallen for?

She needed someone who knows about these things. Who knows how gangs operate.

Miguel.

He was the one who always knew her a little better, being the man with the best observing skills she knew, that also knew her well before and after. He was the most obvious choice to help her. She remembers when he sometimes talked about his old neighborhood. About things that the guys from his high school did to fit in, how he liked to go to the foundation and help the kids from there, to keep them away from violent crime. Mexican gangs related to cartels.

Maybe she should call him. She should’ve called him all along. He knew enough, knew who she worked for, kinda. What she did for a bit. He would know how to deal with this mess. She also missed him too much.

Two more glasses of bourbon and she got her phone and dialed his number. He would know how to fool a gang, as he came from that environment. Knew too much about it, lost too much when young because of it. He would know how all of that worked.  

“Hello, Miguel?” She said it when she heard his polite greeting. His voice was a little rough and he sounded confused. Probably deep in a book or maybe sleeping. “Hope my timing isn’t bad.”

“Elizabeth? Is that you?” He asked. “It’s been a while, I wasn’t expecting a call, I’ve been traveling, visiting your mother, so I’m catching up in some reading. But you never trouble me, dear. Is there something you need?”

She couldn’t tell him over the phone. He would be too disappointed in her, she couldn’t deal with that.

“It’s been a while. I just wanted to see how you were. I’ve been busy. We could schedule our weekly lunch, I – I’ve been needing someone to talk.”

“Of course, dear. I am in New York right now, lectures, you know how it goes. Been in Paris, previously.”

“How is she?” Beth asks, her voice dry. Her mother, specially in the last couple of years, was so silent. They had a falling out before her mother flew to Europe, for a post-doc research. They haven’t spoke to each other since then.

“Better, she has been writing you, Elizabeth. I think you know this. Annie even responded already.”

“Yes, I received, I’m just not ready to forgive her, you know.”

“That’s understandable. I respect your decision. I wasn’t there for the whole conversation, but both of you said some horrible things.”

“I know, I had my reasons and she probably had hers too. Not the reason I called.”

“I’ll be back by the end of next the week. Six days from now”.

Well, that is very close.

“Just in good time. Good luck with your lectures.”

“Thank you, my dear. I’ve missed you in the last couple of months, we have a lot to catch up to.”

She looked at her cell.

What to do now?

There was no way in hell that she would go to sleep now. First, this house was so tainted for her. She would go to a hotel. Or better yet, her mother’s old apartment. Where Miguel still lived. It would be empty, so no questions. She had a spare key.

But first, she had to get started. She had so much to do so she could meet Rio a week from now.

She opened a small notebook and started brainstorming everything. Her talk with Mary Pat was enlightening but she still didn’t trust her. Fine, she was scared now, but what about next month, when her bills would be piling up and her kids need food.

No, she had to deal with her.

Then, there was Boomer. He clearly wanted to bust them, and she kind of understood why. She did hit him with a bottle and left his in a treehouse for days, after all. And part of her still wanted to beat the shit out of him for trying to rape Annie and busting her for drugs.

That also made her remember about Frank and the criminal charges against her sister. And maybe talk to Greg, set him straight again. No more crying for Annie. The last thing Beth wanted was to relive the last months of her sister’s marriage and see the pain in her eyes.

She also had to deal with Dean and after today, she had to move. This house was too much, too many memories of her marriage and she wanted to move on. She had to go somewhere else.

She had to leave. She would go see Mary Pat now, but also go check on everyone. Make sure that no one else received any visit from Rio’s boys.

She got her things. Her kids were safe. She started driving and did a passing by Annie’s house. She saw the light on and her sister was apparently watching TV.

Ruby was in the hospital, so she called.

“How’s Sarah?”

“Everything is good, but- Beth.” Her voice was shaky, and she appeared to be crying. “Beth-“.

“What? Ruby, I don’t like how you sound, do you want me to go to you? Did something happen? Is there someone here with you? Tell me, please.”

No. Rio said she had a week. Oh, God. He didn’t mean just her, right? He knew this was on her. Annie was fine, so why Ruby? No, she’ll kill him, love or no, Ruby comes first. 

“Stan knows. He knows, Beth. He hates me, it’s over. I don’t even know if he loves me anymore, or enough to pretend that we didn’t- Oh God, the look on his face. He never looked at me like that.”

Her best friend needed her. She can deal with Mary Pat later.

“I’m going-“.

“No. Don’t show up here right now, it’ll get ugly. You’re not his favorite person right now, and to be fair-“.

“You hate me too. Ruby, I-“.

“I’ll never hate you, Elizabeth Mérrieux.” Beth smiled. “I just, I need to be alone right now. I guess, I’m just glad it’s over, you know? And I’m also grateful, because you’re the reason my baby girl is safe.”

“Ruby.”

“I have no regrets. Even if we go to prison.”

“I’ll talk to him, Ruby. Just- let me handle all of this, okay? Cherish the time with your little girl, keep her calm and everything, I’ll be here, for everything you may need. I love you.”

“Beth, there wasn’t a meaningful time of my life that you weren’t by my side, so you have to know, we’ll be together forever. I love you too.”

Beth smiled. She was so lucky to have Ruby with her. Annie, too. She had to think about what she was gonna tell them and how, about Rio and their failed plan. But first she had to protect them, put their house in order.

Her list was growing. She had to make sure Stan wouldn’t say anything. She had to make him see that it Ruby wasn’t to blame here. She also had to protect Rio. What did Stan know? Everything? No, she had taken care of things, there’s no way. Even with him being a cop, he was lower level now, not a Detective. He probably was on a need to know basis. But one word to Turner about her and they were over.

Mary Pat. Boomer. Dean. Stan. She had to deal with them first. Then, she had to protect her little sister, talk to Greg, see how her case was going with Frank.

Frank. She needed to quickly deal with him too. Rio said he doesn’t like sharing. And she wants him so much. She must finish their business. That first night felt so wrong, like she was cheating on Rio. That must be over by the end of her deadline.

And then she had to show Rio that she respected him, that he could trust her. She had no idea how she would do that.

In the way to Mary Pat’s house, she thinks about what strategy she’ll use. The woman was a little more frightened after all that happened with Boomer. She knows that now she will respect them more, but survivors like her are unstable, volatile. She has her kids, she is dangerous.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, indeed.

All lights were off, so Beth entered smoothly and made herself comfortable. She’ll wait for Mary Pat to see her, to see the real her.

Almost a hour went by when she heard steps. Mary Pat passed her without even noticing and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. She looked devastated, shaking, her breathing a little weird.

Was she crying in there? God. Elizabeth, there’s no time to care about her, you must be ruthless. No more blackmailing. No more.

She filled the glass once again and turned off the light. When she stepped in the living room, Beth turned on the light on the lamp beside her.

“Hello, Mary Pat.”

She saw the woman jump, hand over her heart.

“Beth, oh my God, you scared me.” She said, so confused, but also relived.

“We have to finish our little talk, don’t you think? You know, you got lucky you’re a single mother, because otherwise my dealing with you would’ve been very different. I know I’m on the wrong side of the law here, and we are in the same situation.”

“Yes, you were trying to fool me and the others and-”.

“Stop with that speech. You don’t care about the others. Or my soul. You used us for an opportunity. I know I’m a criminal, and I understand your motivation, but I have risked too much to provide for my babies. I’m not gonna be your special bank anymore, okay?”

“Oh please, Beth. I know too much. You won’t-”

“Oh, I know. But the thing is, this is about what you don’t know. You, poor little Mary Pat, so troubled, so betrayed. You don’t know the most important thing here.”

“Beth, what are you even doing here? How did you get in?”

“Exactly. You don’t know _me_. Don’t know what _I’m_ capable of.” Beth said, getting up. “You are going to do exactly what I tell you.”

“What?”

“I’m gonna give you a chance to think. I can hurt you a lot more than you think. First, your ten-thousand-dollar allowance is going to stop. Second, you won’t tell anyone a thing about us or the DNR. You are going to be on probation. I’m going to see if you deserve the future pay-off within our little profitable job. You are not going to tell Boomer a thing.”

“I haven’t – I. He was already here, I-“.

“Oh. What did he say to you?”

“He showed who he was. I’m so sorry about your sister, I can’t believe how wrong I was about him, how he-“.

“He tricked you. You are a good woman, men always see the good-hearted ones as naïve. They think we are not perspective or intelligent. That we only care about ours houses, children and husbands.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Men underestimate us. They think we are weak because we are soft, they think we are stupid because we are pretty. They think we want them because we use a low-cut dress or a darker make-up, lips red. They think we are up for grabs because we looked at them. Because we have a tattoo or smile too much. Men like Boomer, think they can have anything they want just because they are men and because they have power over someone.”

Beth’s voice was harsh.

“That man tried to rape my little sister, because she denied him too many times and when he had something to hold over her, she pushed him away. I just want to say to you, that he’s not going to stop because he said he loved you.”

“How do you know he said that?”

“Because I can read you, Mary Pat. Because what you don’t know about me, I know about you. I studied you, in the first few weeks. But I pitied you. That went off when you threatened Ruby. I felt for you when you told me about Boomer, and I’m going to tell you one thing: he is on my list.”

“What list?”

“Of things to fix, to put my house in order. That first time you didn’t bring the money, it created a small problem for me. And I could’ve ended by saying your name to the right person. I didn’t. But now the tables have turned, and I don’t have the credit to protect you anymore.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“No, of course not. As long as you don’t cause me problems. If I have something for you to do, you will do it without questions and without waiting for anything in return. I own you now, Mary Pat. You have one shot to prove to me that you are worthy of my trust. If you do that and if in the future, I have a job for you, well, then you can return to making a little more money.”

Mary Pat is just looking at her, surprised.

“I’ll be paying you a visit by the end of the week to see if you’ve been a good girl. If you do anything to wrong me, I’ll know. And you won’t like the results.”

She reached the door and turned to see the woman who caused her a lot of problems. She opened her coat and showed the gun she was carrying.

“Oh. If you see Boomer again, warn me. I’m looking for him. You’ll be compensated well for your troubles.”

She leaves without hearing what Mary Pat has to say. Something tells her that their blackmailer has been handled. The thing with Boomer frightened her too much and now that she saw the real Elizabeth, she’ll be good.

She wanted to do as much as she can, the faster the better. She’s still too angry with Dean to see him right know and she doesn’t want to disrupt the kids. Stan is off the list too.   

She had texted Frank earlier, asked him for updates. She read his answer and smiled. She fed him tips, saying that everything was planted. He was very persuasive and held power over a lot of men in the right places.

From Frank: _All gone. Investigations cleared, record expunged. Tell your sister she’s a model citizen again. Westin Book Cadillac, 10 PM._

Very well.

Another thing she had left to finish before going to Rio. She had said to Frank that he would be paid upon delivery, she was a woman of her word.

The moment she left the elevator she felt guilty. What was happening? They are not even together. In a week, if she doesn’t say the right things, he might as well kill her (or try to, she’s not going to go down without a fight).

She knows he loves her, but he has her heart and soul. Her body is still hers, her own deadly weapon. She uses the protect those she loves and that includes Annie. Frank is a man, a powerful one. He must not have anything to hold over her. She’ll do what they agreed on. She’ll let him have her for this night.

One night.

One night and Annie’s free. She’ll get Sadie again, because Beth loves her little baby sister more than anything. She caused her enough grief and as an older sister, she has to protect her.

She knocked on the door and he opened, wearing a robe. The room was all luxury, the mood was low-lit candles.

“Aren’t you a true romantic?” she says, sarcastic tone in full effect. “Do you do this for your wife?”

“Trying to be a little funny, Mrs. Boland? Who are you to judge? Married to a weak man, procuring pleasure from another. Selling yourself for favors. I’m not gonna offend you the way I know I can.”

“What? By calling me a whore? Aren’t you one too, if your services can be bought with sex? You know me, I’m not one for double standards.”

He laughed and grabbed her hand, pulling her to him.

“We understand each other well. I remember you in college, in law school, I remember you in the firm. We were a lot alike.”

She knew he was right. They met in college, he knew her then. He knew she would do anything to have her way.

He was the same.

“Those were fun days. Glad to see years of thousands in billable hours didn’t turn you to a hypocrite.”

“I know where I came from and what I did to get where I am now, I’m not ashamed of whoring myself for better opportunities. You know how they say the ends justify the means.”

He served to glasses of wine and gave one to her.

“How very Machiavelli of you, even though it’s a misquote” she said, making him laugh.

“Well, cheers to good business. And speaking of, what kind of shady business are you getting yourself into?” He asked, sipping the wine and observing her do the same.

“Whatever do you mean.”

“C’mon, Beth, don’t be coy. Do you really think you could use my sources and I wouldn’t know about it? You asked for info on a crime boss. Not a crime boss. The crime boss. Rio Castillo.”

Rio Castillo. Well, that was not what she expected. But it had a nice sound to it. The meaning was everything Rio represented. He was a king, after all.

“You were always so nosey.”

“It’s how I show I care.”

“Cute.”

“If you need anything, you can always ask me. I’ll do business with you in any way you like. I accept money and favors too. And I won’t offend you by offering my services for free.”

Beth laughs.

“How nice of you to give me so may choices. Too scared of the wife catching up with what you’ve been doing?”

She is getting edgy, the nerve for doing this is going away and she need to seal the deal on her sister’s freedom. She needs to do this now, before she decides it’s not worth it.

It’s Frank, he’s not totally horrible, he always had the hots for her after their brief tryst in college, when her relationship with Dean wasn’t as defined.

She’s just paying him for services rendered and that’ll be it. He’s not going to hold anything over her head, right?

She took off her clothes and laid on the bed. Nice sheets, amazing mattress. Breathe, Elizabeth. This is not the first time you do this, not his first time either.

In love or not, no men will ever own her. She can decide for herself.

“Just so we are all in the clear here. I am divorced, Beth. But don’t worry, I’m not going to pester you for a date. Ours was a business transaction, by the morning it will be over.”

She smiled and just closed her eyes and pretended. Pretended again to be the touch of another man, one that lived now in her dreams and fantasies. She bit her lips not to scream his name, even if the intimate touch she was feeling didn’t ignite her, not even a small percentage that a mere glance of black eyes did.

At dawn, she rolled away from the bed and left.

 _Might you need another favor, I’d be happy to help._ It was written in the note above Annie’s clean record. She grabbed that and went back home.

The minute she entered the house, she ran to her bathroom and threw up. She had quite a lot to drink during the evening, on an empty stomach. She looked at her reflection, she was pale and looked not very well put together. Dark circles under her eyes, swollen lips, her hair a mess she tried to contain before leaving.

She felt filthy.

She turned the shower on, water so hot that the pain was almost too much, specially in tender skin. Her skin got so red when she started to scrub, scratching off her skin, trying to feel clean again. She got in the tub and submersed herself until her lungs burned.

It was so crazy, how she felt so dirty. She never felt like that before, even when she was kind of dating Dean when she worked undercover. She knew he slept with another girls, the distance relationship was shaky enough, they never talked about it. She knew though, he was a man and a predictable one as well (but even him had manage to surprise her lately).

But now, she felt so wrong. The hot water is almost too much, even hotter than she likes. She felt almost numb, everything too much, closed her eyes trying to think, to absorb everything that happened.

She always thought that if one day she needed to bring back her past, she would do that because a storm was coming, because everyone she loved would die if she didn’t. But no, it was right there during a calm time in her life, a calm that came after almost an apocalypse of changes. It was realizing that she was in love for the first time in her life that she dropped the mask.

Sure, she was pointing a fucking gun at him, but that was about a power play, she was never really in danger. That is, if she could plea her case to Rio.

When she opened her eyes again, the water was cold, her skin wrinkled and the light coming from the window was too bright. She got off the tub, hopped in for a quick shower.

She felt so sore she didn’t even go through her after-bath routine, she just went to bed.

Once comfy enough to feel relaxed, she thought about him, and her week to prove to him that she was in, in sickness and health, until the end of time. This brought up to her memory the file she was given, about him. The one that Frank mentioned. Rio Castillo.

Rio Castillo, that was his name. It was strong, like him. Castillo, it rolled under the tongue, got her hot thinking about it. Looking straight to his eyes and saying him name, his full name, like he did with her.

She picked up the file, opened it.

Information on Rio Castillo.

She closed. That felt almost like cheating somehow, that she would be even more undeserving by getting to know Rio without him giving away his secrets willingly.

The file went to her bedside drawer, to be forgotten for now. She was on probation. She would prove to Rio that she wanted him, and she would follow his rules. His terms.

She would play nice, but she was tired of pretending. She’ll never be in the backstage again. She is the sole owner of her life and she’s tired of soccer games, PTA events and mom’s brunch. She’s tired of being behind a man when she can be so much better. She’s free now and not even Rio is going to hold her down again. She’ll play nice and show him that she’s the queen he needs, that she’ll respect him and play by his rules, but she’ll be her own player.

Elizabeth will never kneel before anyone again, pledging her loyalty and offering herself to be pretty in a throne, to follow behind someone’s steps. She’ll make him know that they are going to be equals. A week. A week to convince him why should he believe in her. Right now, this was the moment she’s been waiting for since she came back from her old life. To be greater. To be herself. To be what her father always told her when he talked, love in his eyes, about her mother.

_That saying you’ve been told, that is the most traditional conformists say about powerful men. They say that behind every great man there’s a great woman. But there’s not a rule, there is not the truth, even if they say to you it is. Look at your mother, the most amazing creature, the most intelligent, changing the world, making a difference, raising the most amazing girls and also knowing all about what she loves. I’m just a man, she’s everything. I say we change it. Isn’t your mother always by my side? So, beside every great man, there is an even greater woman, Elizabeth. It makes more sense, don’t you think? Mama is extraordinary. But now, bed time, my dear. Sweet dreams, Elizabeth._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave me a comment or a wish or something.  
> I have some naughty things planned for this week and a lot planned for later too.  
> It's not going to be a easy path to couple goodness. I want to mess it up a lot Beth's life first.  
> Sorry.  
> But I need too, she's such an amazing canvas to paint on.


	6. Call me Elizabeth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Okay, don’t be scared, please. But yesterday night, after I found out that my husband was faking cancer to trick me into staying married to him, I got home and-“.  
> “And you kicked Dean’s ugly ass out of your fucking house, we know.”  
> “No. Well, yes. But there’s more. When I entered the house… Rio was there.”  
> Ruby and Annie screamed together. “What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are moving now. Sorry it's taking so long for them to finally clash, I guess.  
> But I have my reasons.

She was running up the stairs, forcing her body to go faster, to move faster even knowing there was no way it could. She could feel the air leaving her body, blood oxygenated but no air coming back, lungs burning. Her heartbeats stronger and her throat so dry she couldn’t swallow, her tongue feeling like sand, harsh, almost cutting. Her vision was blurring, black dots all over, seeing the light coming from the open doors two stories up. She had to get there.

Elizabeth held herself a little bit against the wall, trying to regain the air that was leaving her, body hot against the cool cement. She tried to continue, got away from the wall, seeing the bright white stained dark red.

That was blood! She was bleeding a lot from her abdomen. How could she not notice? The pain almost scared her when she felt it, it was coming from within. Looking a little bit at the wound, gunshot. No exit wound. A little bit in the stomach area, if it pierced the organ, she’d be dead in minutes.

_Press your arm against the wound, breathe through the pain and keep going. You can’t stop, Elizabeth. They’re coming for you._

_You got to move on. C’mon. Two stories._

She started running again, climbing up the stairs the fastest she could without feeling like she was about to pass out or die. The door was looked, so she threw her body against it, feeling her shoulder cracking.

 _Again_.

The pain was becoming unbelievable. Too much. She was tired, also. Thirsty. Weak. Her body wasn’t used to this anymore. What was happening?

After the third attempt, she pauses. She started hearing voices, so they are getting closer.

_Don’t give up, Elizabeth._

One more and the door is not there anymore, and she was on the ground. It was cold out, freezing. Her body hurts even more.

Getting up was the most difficult thing she did, because it felt like her body needed to stay down, like it knew that was it for her.

Even though she was outside now, it’s dark. There’s a spotlight near the edge of the terrace. It looked like a sniper rifle. Looked like a Barrett M82.

_C’mon. You wanna be the king, you gotta kill the king._

Suddenly she was there, armed. She looked through the scope and saw her target. There they were.

Dean and Rio.

Rio was laughing, looking straight at her like she wasn’t hundreds of meters away up there. Dean’s face was full of blood, Rio looked a little bad himself. His smirk was inviting, his eyes were like fire.

_I dare you to shoot me, sweetheart._

Well, she was about to die. Rio wanted to kill her. Dean was the father of her kids, if she killed him. they’d be orphans. Her body was getting tired by the second. She had minutes. Just aim and shoot.

_This stuff is medieval, darling._

Very well.

Working the weapon was like riding a bicycle, all muscle memory and expertise. She aims at Rio, breathes and fires in one second.

BANG!

_Bullseye._

 

Elizabeth jumped out of bed and opened her eyes. What the fuck was happening? She was shivering and her heart was going crazy. It was freezing. Looking around, the window was open.

She didn’t remember leaving the window open.

There was an incessant noise coming from somewhere. It was insane. What was happening? What was that?

Shit. She felt like shit. And this high-pitched noise continued coming from somewhere. What the actual fuck? Not even Annie was that loud.

Was someone else in her house? Her cellphone was right next to the bed and it wasn’t it. Her phone was not ringing.

No way, what was happening?

She got a robe over her silk camisole and went downstairs. It looked like a beeper somehow on top of the couch. What? What was that?

She picked it up and saw a number.

That was weird, who would have left this here? And why was it so familiar? It looked old as hell. What the fuck was that number?

She grabbed her cellphone and took a picture and turned off the thing. She was so sleepy she wanted just to smash it. The number wasn’t familiar, but in her sleep-deprived state nothing would be.

She glanced at the clock. 8:30. God, she hadn’t sleep that much. She felt destroyed.

_Back to bed, Elizabeth. But only for a bit, because you have so much to do today._

First things first, she needed to talk to Stan.

She knew that they would probably be doing rounds at the hospital and getting to work, getting some rest. Maybe she should invite Stan for a late lunch, to talk.

To Stan _: I think we should talk. My house. 2:30PM._

Message sent, Beth climbed back to her bed and got a well-deserved rest, mind off all the problems.

Alarm got her up again a little before 1PM. Checking her phone, there was an “ _ok_ ” from Stan. Succinct. He was probably very mad, because he didn’t use emojis or gifs. Stan was an animation man.

After getting ready, she had over an hour to prepare something. She knew Stan liked Italian, so she got the lasagna she had made in the freezer and heated up.

What would she say to him? He needed to forget about the leads and also forgive Ruby. Beth needed to get him to forgive her best friend, but she also needed to make him understand that they did what they needed to do. Everything whilst making sure he wouldn’t find out about the first robbery and all the money laundering.

It wouldn’t be an easy task, but she owned it to Ruby.

Beth was laying down the table when she heard Stan’s car pull over. He got out, face neutral and walked to the door very fast, because it was less than 30 seconds later when the doorbell sounded.

_Well, game on._

“Hello, Stan” she said when opening the door. “Lunch is ready. I hope lasagna is fine. Got a little wine as well, all that hospital must be getting on your nerves.”

“It’s fine, Beth. Let’s get this over with, I gotta get back to the hospital to see my little girl before working the night shift.”

They ate in silence and it wasn’t after the second glass of wine that Stan was able to look her in the eye.

“Why did you rob the store, Beth?”

“Right for the throat. Look, Stan, I’ll be honest with you, because I’ve known you for ages. You have no right to be mad.”

“I’M A COP, BETH. My wife and her friends robbed a grocery store.”

“Please, don’t be all sanctimonious with me. Yes, you happen to work for police enforcement. How much money you make? Let me guess, near 40K a year? Ruby was being paid what? Maybe 6 dollars an hour and working 12-hour shifts, just to pay your bills. Do you remember how much was the procedure? Over 80 thousand, Stan. Overnight. You would need to work for 2 years with no expenses to pay that.”

“I can do the math, Beth. But you guys-“.

“We did what was needed. Or rather I did. The idea was mine, the execution, everything was me. Ruby didn’t want to do it, you know? But Sarah was dying in a hospital bed and she needed that kidney, so I said: to hell with that, we are going to take the money.”

“C’mon.”

“It was dirty money, anyhow.”

“How did you know?” Stan was looking at her, confused.

“Dean cheated on me with a child and lost all my money, so I went to a bar and fucked the first guy that bought me a drink and didn’t repulsed me. Got myself a mistress spot, that guy’s name… was Rio.”

Stan might as well know; this way Turner can’t use him to disprove her blueberry pancake story.

“My God, Beth.”

“During one of his phone calls, I heard him talking about Fine & Frugal and the laundered money. Annie had the inside knowledge, so that was where we hit. Ruby was against it.”

“Beth, I know you guys didn’t do this for fun”. Oh, wasn’t that the truth? “But you have to understand that I am a cop and-“.

“Fuck it. Don’t be naïve, Stan. Do you think that when you are in a room with nine other cops, at least 3 or 4 of them didn’t do illegal transactions in the last year? Blackmailed hookers into sex, got paid to turn left one night instead of right. Used their power to inflict their conservative beliefs upon innocent people?”

“Beth-“.

“My uncle worked for some agency like Interpol or something. Do you know how many people sold their country’s secrets for money? We live in the center of capitalism and there is a lot of competition. Do you wanna bet about how many dirty cops passed by your precinct?”

“Where are you going with this, Beth?”

“Detroit PD, FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, CIA, they are all corrupt corporations fed to a system that is flawed. C’mon, Stan. Have you never been stopped in a street because you’re black? Do you really think all police officers have pure ideals and only good behavior? There are bad cops doing much worse. Look the other way when a pal beats his wife or make a package full of drugs disappear.”

“Beth-“

“Don’t be a hypocrite, don’t believe all the way that we live in a perfect system, because we do not. I witnessed this first hand. Now, this is what you’re gonna do. You are going to forget about this, never to be heard again. You are going to go to your wife and hug her, because your little girl is okay. You are not going to hold this over Ruby, she did nothing. I got her the money, and like hundreds of cops and “good people” everyday she just ignored where it came from.”

“Look, Beth-“.

“And you going to thank her everyday for being an amazing wife and mother. For putting your family first. She accepted money from me, ok?”

“I don’t like this.”

“Yes. But you are going to learn to live with it. You are not going to say this to anyone, because Stan, Ruby loves you and I love her. But if you come in my way or try to shut down your conscience by doing me wrong, I’ll end you.”

“Beth, are you threatening a police officer?”

“Of course not. I’m just warning a friend. The recording device you brought in your car, you didn’t use. Because deep down you know that there was no other way. Look, Stan. I like and respect you. You are my friend. You are the one true love of my one true love. Ruby, Ruby is everything, and if you hurt her, I’ll hurt you. She doesn’t deserve your cold shoulder because she offended your morals to save her daughter.”

“I understand why she-“.

“Your ego is bruised because you couldn’t provide, and she had to end up doing this. I love her more than anything, but don’t be an ass. You would’ve done the same. The world is not perfect, you have to learn how to play the game to get ahead. You can do this and still be a good person. The law is a fine line to play with but sometimes you can’t stay on it.”

“I better be going.”

“Remember, Stan. No one will know about this. You will not hurt Ruby. You are going to go to that hospital, kiss your wife with relief, because your baby is okay. You are going the forget this ever happened and you will not say anything about me to anyone.”

“What if you get caught?”

“We will not. I have plans for that.”

“What? Are you going to frame someone? Beth, there is only so much I can do and look the other way, putting some innocent in jail-.”

“Did you know that Annie’s boss, the manager, tried to rape her? He’s a scumbag and he will go to prison as of today. You will process him and let the word out that he is a rapist but keep him alive. We need him.”

Stan was angry with her statement. She didn’t know about what exactly. Maybe all of it. Beth couldn’t blame him, though.

“You have to trust me. I’ll protect Ruby until the end of time.”

“So will I. It’s just hard to put my head around this. You guys-“.

“I got this, Stan. You know I got this, you’ve met me before everything, you know I’ll do anything for them. For you guys. I’m ready to be the girl that threatened you the day before your wedding but also cried in the ceremony.”

“It’s just difficult to accept that things got this bad that my wife couldn’t go to me for solving our problems. But Sarah is happy and healthy in her hospital bed because of you, Beth.”

“You don’t have to thank me, she’s family, you know? So are you.”

 “I know. You look well, Beth. Finally, I see that mischief glow back in your eyes. Ruby has missed you a lot over the years, she worried.”

“Something was holding me back, Stan. Look, please. Forget this, ok? Ruby needs you right now. Your family needs to be together. Think about what I said. This is a men’s world, Stan. Well, at least men like to think so. Us ladies gotta stick together, and sometimes that means robbing a grocery store.”

“Just listen to me, Beth. That guy, Rio, he’s dangerous. Please, be careful. We are working to bust him.”

“Please, I am also dangerous, he should fear me. Also, just because it’s considered legal when you pull the trigger, doesn’t mean you are the good guy. Business men can pay their taxes and do everything by the books when someone is looking, but we are all criminals during the night. Cops, lawyers, government officials, secret agents. House wives. Just because you have a regular paycheck coming from a respectable agency, doesn’t mean you’re not walking in the wrong side of the law.”

“I know, world’s not black and white, it’s grey.”

“No, the world is green and tainted with red. Every success story, every kingdom, every empire built has the blood of one and the payment of someone else. We just have to try and don’t get it in our hands. Or in our soul.”

“That is a really pessimistic way of seeing the world.”

“Maybe. Not everyone can see it with your black and white lawful good colored glasses. Life is chaotic. Take care, Stan. Send my love to the family.”

“Thank you, Beth.”

“Please, call me Elizabeth. I’m going through an image change.”

“Ruby told me that you and Dean are going through a rough path, I hope you are feeling well.”

“I know that in the course of our marriages you actually became friends with Dean. Specially during all those barbecues and game nights/girl nights. If you are talking to him, please, tell him to not look for me for a while. It’s over for us, Stan. But I think you know it never was for us what it is for you guys.”

“I really like, Dean. He helped me a lot and we’ve known each other too long. But I always thought you guys never clicked, you always looked so empty with him. I’m going to hear him cry for you a lot now, but that doesn’t mean I wished you stayed. I respect you too much, Elizabeth. And I thank you for everything you’ve done for my family.”

“Thanks, Stan. I’ll always be here. Even if you need someone to hear you rant about the ropes and the job. Don’t forget where I came from, I understand even more than you can imagine.”

“I’ll tell Ruby to call you, ok? Maybe she’ll need a friend with her tonight. I still need to absorb everything. The lying hurts the most, you know?”

“Protection doesn’t always feel good.”

She went to the counter and served a piece of lasagna in a bowl and wrapped up. She also baked some cookies and wrapped them as well in a little bag.

“Take this to Ruby, please? Hospital food is the worst.”

“Of course. Thanks for the lunch, Beth.” He chuckled. “It’s going to take a while to remember to call you like that again.”

“Feels like I’m trying to change a lifetime of Beth Boland. It’s difficult, but I’m not her anymore. Maybe I never was.”

Stan looked at her, trying to understand her and maybe seeing her for the first time. She was so full of strength.

“Your sister still works with divorces?”

“I’ll give her a call. Ask to reach out to you.”

“Thank you.”

“Nah. Thank you. Actually, that’s what family is for, right?”

“Of course. You have a good day, Stan.”

The moment his car left her sight she jumped to her phone. She had so much to do. First, she needed to deal with Boomer. She would need Mary Pat for that. She also needed to call Annie and tell her about the drug charge.

To Mary Pat: _Call Boomer to your house tonight, warn me when he gets here. Then distract him for 30 minutes. He CAN’T be suspicious, so have a good excuse. Think of this as your first job to get back in my good side._

Beth didn’t even wait for the answer, she immediately called Annie.

“What?” Her voice was sleepy and annoyed.

“God, Annie. Did you just wake up? Are you hangover?”

“It’s my day off. Also, a Saturday.”

“Yeah, but I thought you had that thing with Sadie in the morning, the custody thing.”

“No, I gave that up for now. She’s happy in the Jesus school and she’s better off with Greg and Nance or whatever. I’m a mess that is probably going to get busted for stealing cash from my own job. Did Ruby tell you? About Stan? Damn, the police might already be on the way, he probably thinks I’m the mastermind behind it.”

Beth laughed. Her sister was crazy sometimes.

“Of course, he doesn’t think that. Nobody would. You are the instigator, if anything. And yes, I know, and I already handled it. As I handled your drug charges. You record is clean as a whistle, Frank even made some speeding tickets disappear.”

“WHAT? Beth you are the best sister EVER! I knew that with you knowing all that lawyers, something good would have to happen. No drugs and no tickets? Man, you gotta kiss that man for me. How did you do that?”

Beth breathed, slowly. She had done a lot more than kissing for this. But it was her sister and she had no regrets.

Things with Rio could even fall apart and she needed to put her house in order and that meant her sister’s situation.

“He has a lot of contacts. You are a model citizen. At least on paper, to people that never met you. You gotta get back with the custody case.”

“I will not. Sadie is fine and I’ll see her whenever I want. But she’s fitting in at the school and she had friends that ain’t me. I don’t have the money right now and you know how long those things can take. I rather get my shit together and then do it when I know I can totally win, no awesome lawyers needed.”

“What? That’s ridiculous, how can you be happy without Sadie?”

“I’m not, but she is happy being a kid and not needing to take care of her crazy mother all the time. She gets to see me everyday I’m off work and she still has a more stable home and a better school.”

“But-“.

“And I’ll get her back, when I’m more- I don’t know, I’m still broke, can barely afford rent now that we decided to come back to being law-abiding citizens. There’s no way I can deal with a case that I might not even win.”

“I can-“.

“No, Beth. You can’t be owning too many favors to lawyers all over town. I’m fine. Actually, I’m thinking about moving.”

“What? Where?”

“I actually called mom and asked her if she had plans on coming back anytime soon. She says just to visit, maybe for the holidays.”

“You talked to mum?”

“Yeah. I said I’ll be sleeping on her bedroom at the apartment, because my old room is an office now. I mean, it has a futon, but it will not be good long-term, I am getting old.”

“Have you talked to the person who currently lives there?”

“Please, as if Miguel wouldn’t love having me there. Having someone to cook for, to watch TV really loud when he is trying to read so he can complain with his eyes but smiling, nonetheless. He said he got so used to it that sometimes he leaves the TV on as some white noise.”

“So you’ll give up your place?”

“Yeah. I’ve been wanting to stop giving that asshole money for so long. Miguel is traveling to one of his university thingies, but he said he’ll help me move. Not that I have a lot of things. I’ll be having a garage sale tomorrow I guess.”

“Really? And what else?”

“I- I’ve been thinking actually, a lot. Don’t laugh at me, please.”

“Annie, I would never. Tell me.”

“I want to get back to school, kinda.”

Beth almost fell off her bed.

“You what?!”

“C’mon, I’m tired of working on dead-end jobs. If I have to deal with Boomer one more day, I’ll go crazy. Not that I’m planning to quit anytime soon, but I want to have other options. Actually, I want to do something I’m proud of.”

“That’s amazing, Annie. I always dreamed of you saying that.”

“Yeah, I dreamed about dad last night, you know?”

“Oh. What did you dream about?”

“He was meeting Sadie and he loved her so much. He called me Anne like he always did. He said I was an amazing mother, and that I was so much like him. He said I had the kind of voice that was made to be heard. I woke up crying and decided to get drunk, to not see it again, because it hurts. It hurts everyday he’s not here.”

“I know, sweetheart. I miss him too, every day.”

“I called mom then. We talked for hours about him. She told me everything she never wanted to after he died. She told me I look so much like him you know. So much that hurts her a little bit to look at me. She told me she’s getting help and the holidays are going to be like a trial, to see if she can handle it well. She’s on medication and everything.”

“That’s… Good. Unexpected, but good.”

“She told me things about me that I’ve forgotten. How I acted when dad was still alive and how I annoyed dad’s friends by analyzing them. How everyone always thought that I could understand anyone and help them be themselves. How I accepted anyone. I learned that from Miguel, remember? Uncle Steve, too. And then the universe, God, whatever. They gave me Sadie and she helped so much. I think that if I didn’t have Sadie, I would not be here. I’d probably be drunk in some stranger’s couch with needle marks in my arms. Or maybe in rehab. I was so angry, and I wanted to hurt myself. She saved me, Beth. And now I want to save others.”

Beth was listening to her sister, eyes filled with tears. She never realized that, because Annie was always so crazy happy. She should’ve known better. Not everyone handles grief like her and her mother, suffocating the feelings and focusing in something else. In her case it was being hidden. Her mother was her work and being alone.

But Annie always felt too much.

“Beth?”

“Hi, sweetie. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for being the worst sister in the world. I never thought that- That you felt that way. I mean, you told me that time that you felt abandoned. I didn’t listen. I just think sometimes that you’re like me, but you’re not. You are the opposite. You are our father and he’s probably so proud of you. Go. Go back to school, you deserve it. I’ll get some money.”

“I actually saved some, I didn’t know why. I thought that I was doing this because everything would explode, and we would have to get away. But now I think I was doing it unconsciously. I spent 2 hours on the phone with mom, both of us browsing options for school. She’s sending some money to help me get started. Rent will stop and I have my savings.”

“I’m so happy for you, Anne Margaret.”

“If I knew how to communicate better with Greg and with my own daughter, if I listened them, maybe we would’ve never robbed that store.”

“Oh, yes we would, honey. Because even if you and your ex were in good terms, Dean still would’ve destroyed our marriage and finances and Sarah would still be getting sicker. That night was written in the stars for us. And brought us here. You, choosing a career. Ruby with her baby in the hospital with a new kidney. Me getting Mérrieux written back on my documents, single and for the first time in a long while, thinking about myself.”

“That’s amazing! You going to dump Dean once and for all? Am I dreaming? Because it feels like a dream. Shit, let’s call Ruby and tell her.”

“I guess Stan already told her, we talked earlier. What I didn’t say was that he was lying about the cancer.”

“What? The fucker. That is way too devious even for him.”

Beth had gotten up and was running herself a bath. She had a lot to do for the rest the day and she wanted to relax.

“C’mon, who does that? I’m so angry.”

“Dean is smarter than I thought, who would’ve known?”

“I’m angrier at myself than at him, because you know, I should’ve expected this from him, a weak man that couldn’t even own up to his mistakes and had to take the coward’s way out. And how did I fall for this?”

“Because you know that he is not that smart. Little genius of evil, that idiot. I’m a little impressed, actually.”

“Oh yeah? Should I cancel the divorce papers I had Stan’s sister draw up and send Dean?”

“Of course not! Do you think he’ll sign?”

“I’ll make him sign. I want these papers signed tomorrow at the latest, because I want to get away from him as soon as possible. I’ve lost too much time already.”

“Well, I think I’m going to go to the hospital, talk to Ruby.”

“Yeah, me too. Can you give me a lift? I’ve been drinking a little and didn’t get much sleep yesterday.”

“I guess.” She said and then laughed. “I’m not the only party girl in the family, huh. Well, I have to shower first though. I smell like cinnamon schnapps and old cheese puffs. They’re even in my hair.”

“Cute. Well, I’m taking a hour-long bath first, you take your time. Also, you need to think about the loose ends of the robbery, because I’m tying the knots.”

“Beth Bol- ops. Beth Mérrieux, criminal extraordinaire. Tying all the knots, calculating all the steps. We did everything right, Beth. Don’t worry. Well, there’s Tyler, but I fixed it.”

“What? What about Tyler?”

“He realized it was me, but I shut him up.”

“How, pray tell me, did he find out it was you? Are we talking about the same Tyler? I know you’re not exactly subtle, but c’mon! And, please tell how you fixed this?”

“Said to the cops he was a hero, he’ll never say anything, it will look bad for him, because he never said anything during his interrogation. He can go to jail for not telling the truth right away or something. And he only knows about me anyways, so-”

“Obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting, but how do we know he won’t tell during interrogation? He’s very easy to manipulate. Turner doesn’t look like a good cop in this situation. And I’ll have you know that if you go down, we all do. I’m not going to let you take the fall alone when you are so ready to live your life the way you always wanted, the way I robbed you of.”

“Robbed me? Stop with this already! Dad’s death was not your fault, Elizabeth. God”.

“I have to go, I’ll think about Tyler. Text me upon arrival.”

“Ok, dude.”

So, she had to handle Tyler as well? God dammit Annie. But that was okay, because he wouldn’t be difficult to handle. Maybe just give him a remember to keep his mouth shut.

Beth stripped and got in her bath. She got some music on and a glass of wine. It’s gonna be a hell of a week, but she’s doing a good job. It’s funny how this bath felt so good, so different from her last one, where everything was burning, and she felt so dirty.

Eyes closed, she relaxed in the bath and let the hot water and the wine have its effect.

“C’mon, you did what you had to do to protect your sister.” She whispered. She felt so much lighter already. “You are your own woman, Elizabeth. Your body is yours.”

“And what a beautiful body indeed.” She heard a voice coming from the door and her eyes snapped open.

Rio.

“Oh my God” she was so surprised that her reflex was trying to cover herself, but he couldn’t see anything. She liked her baths with a lot of bath salts and bubbles. It made her skin so soft. “How did you get in? What are you doing here? It hasn’t been a week yet. It’s barely been 24 hours.”

“I missed your demanding voice and daring attitude, came here to get some more of that, Elizabeth. Get a grip, will you? I have business to discuss.”

“What business?”

“I’m going out of town for the next 5 days or so. Don’t worry, darling, I’ll be back to see you in court, yeah?”

“Can’t wait.”

“Hope you getting prepped at least. As a judge, I’m not easy to please.”

“I can think of a couple things that I could do right know to please you, your honor. Imagine what I can do in a week” she said, smirking and then moving so she could get some skin into his view.

His eyes were glued in her collar bone, looking down. She rested her back against the wall and hid behind the bubbles.

“Anyways, if you convince me to forgive you, you’ll have some work to do to get my trust back. I know you met me in my “street gang persona”, but I’ll have you know that people take me in as a business man. You have no idea about the size of my empire, darling.”

“I’m betting it’s huge. As big as your… ego” she said looking down and then meeting his eyes. “And I care about this because…?”

“Because I care about it. Don’t be obtuse, Elizabeth. Did you forget that you are in shaky grounds with me?”

“I would never, sir.”

“What I’m saying is… I usually attend some events. Charity, inaugurations, auctions, parties, dinners. Until your little stunt, your second stunt even, in one of my business associates, I was someone all and above the law. In the eyes of the people. I mean, Turner and the FBI were always looking into me, but never getting anything. But now, thanks to you, my face was shown on the way to fucking jail.”

“You poor angel, mistaken for a common criminal.”

“The ways I get my money are all over the place, between the lines in the right or wrong, I dabble on both sections. But in the papers, I’m legit, I invest, and I donate, I have powerful people owe me and then I own them.”

“Of course, the flipping your game part. I get it.”

“The deal is… I may be the gang leader and the crime boss, but to everything in the eyes of the people, I am a business man, a closer and a fixer. An investor in multiple business ventures. Everything in my account book is neat, explained. Ain’t going to jail for tax evasion like some old crooks. After everything I’ve done. Everybody I work with knows that and they respect me beyond the fear of my organization. But after your shopping trip, even though my lawyers have it under control, I need a little pick me up.”

“Came here for a massage with a happy ending? A blowjob in the back alley? A quickie on the kitchen table? I’d be happy to oblige.”

“You may continue to tease me, Elizabeth. I know what you want with that and you ain’t having it until my say so. There are too many favors you owe me before I’mma let you enjoy yourself.”

“How chastising of you.” She said, smirking and he arched his eyebrow at her, eyes burning and feral, eliciting the most visceral responses within her.

“You ain’t seeing nothing yet, sweetheart. Wait until you seen everything I have in store for you, for disobeying me.”

A shiver goes through her, like a lighting bolt again. Why everything this man almost electrocuted every nerve ending she had with just a look?

“Well, there is a benefit next Saturday, black-tie, all very proper and rich. Champagne, business man and corrupted politicians getting to know each other, exchanging power. Do you know who will be there?” he asked, getting closer and sitting in the edge of the tub.

“Besides all your enemies and the high society you profit from? Some hotshot rich playboy to play with for money?”

“Your little friend, agent Turner.” He said, eyes dark and lips cursed.

“Small world.” Beth said, drinking the rest of wine in her glass.

“The smallest.” He grinned.

“Please, do say hi.” She told him, caressing her neck with some bubbles and smiling, daring eyes glued to his.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, darling. You will be going. That’s non-negotiable. You succeed or you fail to convince me, you’ll be there, doing what I say.”

“Are you asking me on a date, mr. Castillo?” Her smile grew brighter and she inclined in his direction, getting her torso out of the water. He arched his brow and looked intrigued.  

  “Only if you’ll be a good girl whilst I’m gone. Of course, if you’re deserving, I want to put your pretty curves on the perfect dress and show you off, as my queen.”

“Yours.”

Before they knew it, Elizabeth was inches from him, body wet, chest pressed against his. Her face so close that their noses were touching. She closed her eyes and teased him, tip of her nose caressing his cheek, his scent just as alluring to her as the rest of him. Looking at him through hooded eyes, blue like the sky, golden eyelashes and light freckles like a constellation.

They were almost mapping each other, eyes engraving, memorizing everything so up-close. Lips almost there, faces moving, a kiss away from explosion. Her wet skin burning against the heat of his body, even with the thin fabric between then. Her chest mimicking the rhythm of his breathing, nipples hard. Her hand went to his neck, nails slightly clawing through his nape, pushing him against her, lips touching for a second before she went away and back to the tub.

His eyes stayed closed for a few seconds and when he opened them, he pulled her by the arm back to where she was.

“What I said about playing with fire, Elizabeth?”

“Please, do it?”

“Not exactly.”

“Rio, I already said this to you, I am yours. I want exactly this way, bruising, a demanding fire in your eyes full of anger and equally passion, I’m not afraid.”

“Yeah? Well, you’ll have to wait, darling. You are grounded until further notice. And it ain’t matter how much I wanna fuck this grin off your face, you ain’t deserving. My wish was to bound you to my bed and have you there, waiting for me to pardon you.”

“As you wish, your majesty.” She whispered. He traced her lips with his thumb and then got away from her. She could see he was affected, and they were a few more seconds away from punishment be damned. He knew he could only resist her for so long.

“Impossible woman. Are you trying to burn yourself alive with this water?”

“I like the heat.”

“Elizabeth, I want to learn you. Know all of you, you better give that to me.“ He said, getting up and putting a reasonable distance between them. “See you in court, yeah?”

And he was gone.

Shit.

What the fuck just happened? Her body was shutting down or something. She never felt like this before, like she had a fever and her body was out of her control. Her heart was so crazy she was sure she was going into cardiac arrest. Her skin was hot, and she felt like she was shaking.

“What is happening to me?”

Her lips were almost electrified. She got off the tub and turn on the shower as cold as would go.

When she was dressing herself, she heard her door opening. He wasn’t back, was he?

“BETH! Get your lazy ass off this bathtub and let’s go see Ruby” she heard Annie yelling.

Thank God.  

“I’m almost ready. I’ll be downstairs in five.”

She finished getting ready and searching for things she would need for later, so she could finish putting her house in order.

When Beth got down, Annie was in the couch, eating a handful of cookies.

“Those were for the kids, you know.”

“I’m hungry, and the hospital has the worst cookies ever. Did you bake this?”

“Yes, for Ruby. And a few extra for the kids, they’ll be the rest of the weekend with Dean’s parents, but I was planning on seeing them and dropping these off, if you don’t mind.”

“I only ate like… five of them or something. There was a lot.”

“Yeah, sure. Let’s go, there’s something you guys need to know.”

“About?”

“Nuh-uh. Only when we’re with Ruby. C’mon. You better drive fast, sis.”

 

-

 

They passed on Dean’s parents so Beth could see her kids and drop off the cookies. Annie was bugging her the whole trip to just tell her already!

That culminated to reckless driving and power walking through the hospital, because Barry the nurse was a “bitch” that controlled speed in the corridors. The minute they saw Ruby, Annie started annoying Beth into telling them what she needed to. She just didn’t know how she was going to say this without frightening them.       

“Wait Annie, we just got here. Don’t you wanna know how everything is going? How’s Sarah doing?”

“Oh, no. I’ve known you too long, sweetheart. I know when you’re trying to distract us. I’m with Annie on this, Beth.” Annie had obviously told Ruby and bugged her as well. Her sister is just as impatient as a child. “Just tell us, c’mon.”

“Okay, don’t be scared, please. But yesterday night, after I found out that my husband was faking cancer to trick me into staying married to him, I got home and-“.

“And you kicked Dean’s ugly ass out of your fucking house, we know.”

“No. Well, yes. But there’s more. When I entered the house… Rio was there.”

Ruby and Annie screamed together. “What?”

“Maybe you guys can try to be a little quieter, please? We are in a hospital and this is a very pressing subject that also demands secrecy.”

“He was at your house? How? We sent him and his boys to jail, Beth!”

“Yeah, I know. But his lawyers got him out. He beat the crap out of Dean, and we had words. I just wanted you to know that I didn’t drag you guys down with me, ok? He blames only me for that.”

“No, no. We did everything the three of us.” Ruby said. “I know I was against for the most part, but this last time it was for my baby girl.”

“Yeah, Beth. We were all together in this, ok? It’s our fucking fault, not yours. Stop sacrificing yourself.”

“But it was my idea, ok? And it was a bad one. I only did it because of our previous interaction, so he doesn’t blame it on you guys.”

“What about you, Beth? We should call the FBI, that guy. Or Stan. Oh, sweet baby Jesus, did he hurt you?”

“Ruby, for Fuck’s sake. He probably just threatened her. Beth, maybe you should go visit mom for some time. I don’t know, or we can go offer another gang the chance to thrive and ask them to kill Rio. I mean, all of them must be enemies anyway. We could go-“.

“Calm down, both of you. I- He gave me some time to plea my case, get my house in order. I’m fine and I’m going to be fine, but I need you guys to trust me, first, and also help me. I might need to get away for a few days, I need to think really well about what I’m going to say to him.”

“Say you’ll be his sexy criminal assistant or whatever. I mean, we’re not going to address the big elephant in the room?” Annie said, probably about something that only she knew about.

“What in the hell you’re talking about, crazy woman?” Ruby was so done with this. “Beth, we need to call Stan.”

“No, that is not necessary and will probably only make things worse.”

“So… we’re not addressing it?” Annie was chuckling.

“Addressing what, you lunatic?” Ruby was losing her patience. She thought they were done. Out. Free. Forever.

“How Beth and gang friend have been eye-fucking this whole time in their weird power play. She called him a bitch, for God’s sake. This is classic example of Beth’s strange seducing tactic, it’s like foreplay for her or something.”

“Excuse me?” What the hell Annie was on about?

“It’s funny cause we are pretty much opposites. I’m the queen of detention, reckless, problematic one with a thing for big nerdy guys and you are the perfect barbie, ivy league attendant, responsible one with the hots for powerful, bad boy types.”

“What are you talking about?’

“Look, I’ve seen you flirt one time with this guy back when you were home from Yale. Mom had just moved in with Miguel, don’t you remember? You guys were playing chess. Well, you were pretty drunk that night. What was his name, uh, Diego? I don’t know.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Forget it. That is neither here or there, the thing is you guys were foreplaying all over the place with your weird sex as a business transaction vibe. Jesus, and that was when we were all there. All the times you went to deliver money to him alone. I thought you weren’t taping that because of your crazy fidelity to Dean or whatever. But now that he’s out of the picture, I imagine you’d want to get some from him. I wouldn’t blame you, he’s hot, in a rugged kind of way, sexy voice, nice body, tattoos, dangerous. Just your real type, really. Dean was always a fluke. You like power.”

“Excuse me? Beth having sex with a gang member?”

“No, not a gang member. The boss. That’s so Beth, always aiming for the powerful ones. She gets off on it, I swear. She always liked manipulating powerful men. That’s why I always thought Dean didn’t make sense. As if I didn’t remember the time you made out with the son of the White House Chief of Staff when you were fifteen. You used to always go to the powerful ones, the one’s with a nice scholarship or great ambitions. How you ended up with Dean I’ll never know.”

“That’s so-“ _right_. Beth always thought Annie didn’t know a lot about her personality back then. Sure, they were close, but sister close, as much closeness as one is with a sibling eight years younger.

“You know I’m right. Ruby doesn’t know because when you were together you were already with Dean. But I remember dad’s dinners and all the other stuff.”

“Annie-“.

“That’s why it makes perfect sense your fascination and attraction to Gang Friend. I know I usually act like I don’t notice shit and I assume sometimes I’m easily distracted-“

“Sometimes?”

“Yes, Ruby. Sometimes. But I observe everyone, and you like him, Beth. And I know something happened that day when you drove the truck, and then they were coming for us, but you also wanted a little revenge. I just wished that you guys could fuck it out of your systems, God.”

“I did _not_ have sex with Rio.” Because he was a stubborn bastard.

“Of course not, because you are very nervous. When was the last time you had sex, huh?” Annie asked. “I was so right that day in the dumpster.”

 _No, actually I had sex yesterday to save your sorry ass._ Annie was getting in her nerves. How was that her sister was so dispersed sometimes and other she was the most observant.

“Look, we’re not here to discuss my sex life, thank you very much. I’m just trying to tell you guys that I need some time alone so I can convince the crime king to forgive me. Annie, could you just… Stay with the kids for me?”

“Sure, your place? That way I can already dispose of my stuff before the big move. Take all the time you need; my babies love me.”

“That’s because you let them watch TV late and pumps them full of sugar.”

“I’m the fun aunt, Beth. That’s my whole brand. Maybe I’ll ask Greg if Sadie can spend some days with us. He might need a few days alone to impregnate Barbie wife.”

“I’m not even going to go there with you, Annie.” Shit, she has to talk to Greg also. She almost forgot. It was even more important now that Annie was tracing a new path for her life.

“Okay, so you are going to get rid of Rio and the gang for good and we can go to bed with no fear of being shot?”

“Yes. I’m going to deal with the aftermath of the robbery and also with every one that was in our way one way or the other. I already dealt with Mary Pat and Dean is out of my life. Stan and I talked, did he say something to you?”

“Yeah, he brought some food and said that he understands why I did it. He just asked for some time to digest everything and for me to never lie to him again and I’m happy to do that.”

“That’s good.”

“What did you say to him, Beth?”

“Just the truth, Ruby. I also told him to call me Elizabeth.”

Annie’s mouth was open.

“What?”

“It’s been too long, I’m ready to be myself again. Someone that father would be proud of. I’m just tired of being Beth Boland, I’m going to change my life now, I’m going to be the Elizabeth I was when he was alive.”

“I think that this experience was a good one for us after all.” Annie said. “I mature some things about my life, saw my kid happy in school, forgave Greg a little more. Ruby got herself a heathy girl and put her marriage to the ultimate test and thrived. Got herself out of that disgusting job. And you dumped Dean.”

“Yes.”

“Also, you are starting to forgive yourself for dad’s death. I think you need to talk to mom, Beth, c’mon.”

“I’ll do this when I’m ready, I’m not ready right now.”

From Mary Pat: _He’s on his way._

“I have to go, things to do.”

“Do you want me to drive you?”

“No, thanks. I’ll uber home. Dean’s going the bring the kids back tomorrow night, so you can say hello.”

“You are already going?”

“Yeah, I have a lot to do. Good night, my girls. I’ll keep you informed.”

She went to the bathroom and put on a black wig, dark red lipstick and her black coat and left the hospital in a hurry, confirming with Mary Pat that if the coast was clear for her to go after Boomer.

Beth called a taxi because she didn’t want an digital imprint to where she was going. After giving the driver the address, she passed all the steps of her plan in her mind. It had to be perfect. Even if she wanted to kill Boomer for even thinking about putting his dirty hands in her little sister, killing him wasn’t the smart choice right now. She needed a patsy, someone to take the fall in front of the world, so the gang didn’t suspect her, leaving Rio vulnerable.

_Leslie Petersen, I’m coming for you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please. Tell me what you guys thought. I run on commentary;  
> So motivate me ;)


	7. Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Sure. Look at you, barely divorced Dean and you already are much better. This new Beth is sexy, I like you confident and mischievous.”
> 
> “Well, call me Elizabeth.”
> 
> “Elizabeth, huh? It’s been a long while, but I think I know why you revived this. Don’t think I don’t know. I’m your sister, I can read you very well, like the palm of my fucking hand.”
> 
> “Sure. Good night, Annie. Stop bothering Ruby with your crazy fantasies.”
> 
> “You wish you could fool me, but you can’t Elizabeth Rose Mérrieux.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been a while.  
> This chapter was overall ready but I was working on the next one first.  
> I think this one is shit, I hate it. That's why it took so long, I couldn't revise it and I wanted to change everything up, but these things needed to happen.  
> Some of the hacker shit there I don't even know how that works, but whatever. Boomer has shit in his place, I guess. You guys should remember that Beth was a spy/assassin/something for a long time, thinking about immersion, but she was also trained since infancy by her uncle.  
> She was built to do this.  
> Despite the shit chapter, I like the Beth/Annie part and it was a necessity for what's to come on the next one, which is becoming a monster but my favorite to write so far.  
> So I guess you can call this a filler, it also shows that people realize she's changed and also they miss the old her.  
> I hope you guys like it. 
> 
> I don't own any of this character, if I did they would have fucked (or at least kissed) by now, which kind of makes me a hypocrite, but its coming.  
> Actually, I own Miguel, so... there.
> 
> Couldn't think of a title though, but thiis has a lot of meanings

 

“Is that it?” the driver asked her. She looked at the apartment building. It was the one she saw Boomer enter the time she followed him.

“Yes, thank you so much. Please, keep the change.” She said with a foreign accent. No one could pinpoint her to this place, ever.

Not that this taxi driver would say to all of the police in Detroit that Beth Boland was there, but it was in her instinct to be extra cautious with things like this. You usually got caught in the details you missed.

She got off the taxi and looked at the door. She had followed Boomer when they were planning the second heist to Fine & Frugal. She had to be quick. Mary Pat said he was already there, so she had half an hour at least. But if everything was to go exactly how she planned, she would have to be quicker.

Going around the building when she was doing recon, she saw that this student would offer his apartment for a kind of renting app that would cover a few days. She went ahead the day of the heist and got herself a week rent under a fake name. Said it would be her, French artist and her American boyfriend. He had showed her the place and even talked about the neighbors.  

Boomer lived on the third floor, in one of the apartments the faced the back of the building, door on the right.

_Show time._

Beth got a cup out of her purse and knocked on the door on the left. She needed witnesses, c’mon.

No one.

Another knock. Nothing could go wrong on this, she needed the neighbors.

Steps.

A little girl answered the door.

“Oh, hi sweetie, is there someone home with you? I’m in need of a cup of flour.”

“No, it’s just me. Grandma said she would be back soon, she went to pick up ice cream for me, because she said if I won our chess match, she would let me have some after dinner. Mom never lets me have any, but I love it.”

“Hm, so your grandma lives here alone?”

“Yeah, Grandad went to Heaven when I was a little baby.”

“Okay, so I’ll wait for your grandma to get back, I’m planning a birthday party to a friend, I wanted to bake him a cake.”

“Are you the weird guy’s girlfriend? He always says to my grandma that his girlfriend is traveling. Grandma says he probably doesn’t have one and he just likes to brag. I think he’s a little scary. I almost never see him, he lives next door to Gram and I come here a lot. But he likes to stay in.”

“Oh, no, sweetie. I’m upstairs, just visiting. You should tell your grandma if he does anything to you.”

“I- He’s just so weird, but he never talks to me, just when I’m with Grandma and he asks her to water his plants when he goes to visit his Grandma, like me. And he also talks about his girlfriend. They’re getting married.”

“Well, you should wait for your grandma to get back. Maybe I’ll ask the weird guy for flour for my cake.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea, Gram said he works at a supermarket, you know? He probably has a lot of flour.”

“Okay, thank you. Enjoy your ice cream.”

“Thank you, you’re very pretty, I guess even prettier than his girlfriend. He showed us a picture once you know. But I swear I saw her once on the TV.” She scrunched her nose. “I gotta go. Grandma said I can only have ice cream if I do my homework. Good night.”

“Good night, sweetie.”

The little girl closed the door.

Great.

Beth went to his door and opened with ease, skillfully. She had spent a couple hours training back in her safe house. She was always good with locks and safes, but it had been a while.

Like everything else she had been training for a while, it was like riding a bicycle.

 To her, it wasn’t a surprise that his apartment was disgusting. No wonder he never brought Mary Pat here. There were clothes everywhere. It had a small kitchen and living room. The couch was full of mail and the coffee table had a lot of DVDs on it.

Yeah, porn. Old school stuff, probably. All very abundantly sexist titles with raunchy offensive covers.

She had to do what she came here to do and left the mask in the middle of his dirty laundry pile on the floor. She also placed black lace underwear there. There was a least one woman on the heist, so maybe a lover, a paid one, an accomplice. She just needed to give some reasons to the police think all this through.

There was also the blueprint of the store with the placement of the cameras and some extra cash. Commentary on the employees, courtesy of Annie.

Boomer was going to browse a little for tickets to Mexico. Beth opened his computer. Password protected. She tried his birthday, his name and maybe Mary Pat.

Oh God please, let it not be Annie.

His grandmother’s name was next. Okay, she would use her skills a bit then. Her flash-drive was connected and in five minutes she was on. His password was jessicaalba69, she should’ve known. His “fiancée”.

The computer was full of tabs of porn, not even on an anonymous window. He had no one to hide from, it made sense. A lot of lesbian sex and some light-bondage stuff. Typical.  

He used a lot of chats online and dodgy dating sites. It was time for her to edit his history a little bit.

Beth used his browser to shop for one-way tickets to Mexico, manipulating the dates to they would go up to a week ago using this program to alter it on his computer.

She looked through a lot of tickets to Mexico and favorited the cheapest one, same company as the one she had paid a guy to buy, using a fake ID and cash.

 Also browsed for a no-extradition country and how to open accounts on the Cayman Islands, setting up the time for this search for the last two weeks. Found some things on his documents, mostly naked pics of girls and some dick pics.

Gross.

Beth sent those to Annie. It would be a nice touch. Add harassment to his charges. To his computer, he sent them yesterday. Mary Pat said he came to see her, he was probably drunk. A feel drunken dirty sayings and a couples of pics.

Sorry, sis.

Also, he cyberstalked her a lot and saved a lot of pics. This really was the cherry on top.      

And then she got a little bag from her purse, with the ticket, a fake passport and a few thousand bucks in cash and hid under his bed.

Now, packing. Beth grabbed a suitcase and threw some of his clothes in. Packed the toiletries and some personal items.

Back in his computer she wrote a letter of resignation to Fine & Frugal, saying that he was afraid of the last robbery and all. She knew he wasn’t working that time, so she made as suspicious as she could.

The last touch was a few pictures of Annie under his pillow, but also some torn on his trashcan. When she opened his drawers and to her surprise the little plan of making him look like Annie’s stalker wasn’t so out of the reality, because there it was, a picture of Annie bend over arranging some things on the store.

_That little shit._

All she wanted was to choke the life out of him, watch him struggle with breathing, color draining from his eyes.

_Breathe, Elizabeth. You can always get someone to beat him up in prison._

The last touch was some drugs under the couch and hidden in the bathroom. One of which she had gotten from the precinct Annie was taken. Checked out of evidence, just a little. Evidence always go missing, but it’ll be a perfect match. Same batch and everything. She also bought other ones from that dealer that Annie asked for help with the botox, figured that was were Boomer got the ones he used to incriminate her.

_Leslie Petersen, you are under arrest for masterminding the robbery of your own workplace, staging a drug bust and also trying to fucking rape my little sister._

Beth finished everything and then forced the lock a little, before throwing herself against the door, using the right weight of her body to tear down the place.

Okay.

She knocked on the little girl’s door again. This time Grandma answered. She started crying, her mascara running.

“Oh my God, I was coming here to get a cup of flour and I saw that the door on 3A was opened. I tried to call for someone and then a guy just pushed me against the wall and ran down the stairs. Oh, I’m so scared.” Beth said between sobs.

The old lady hugged her.

“Darling, calm down. I didn’t understand everything. Are you okay? I’m going to get you a cup of water. Get in.”

Beth entered the apartment. The lady brought her a glass of water and watched her drink it. She took a deep breath.

“I’m staying at 4B with my boyfriend, I was just trying to find someone to give me a cup of flour, you know? I came here and your lovely granddaughter said you’d be back soon, so I waited. Then I saw that the 3A’s door was open, so I went to check if anyone was in and this guy came running, I don’t know, it was like he was looking for something. He was all full of tattoos and stuff. All I wanted was to bake my boyfriend a cake before I went away.”

“Oh darling. Leslie lives there, I know his workplace was robbed a few days ago. Maybe they went back for him.”

“I don’t know, it looked like a guy from a gang or something, all broody and tattooed. He pushed me against the wall, I was so scared. He was looking for cash, I think. Or something, definitely mad, furious.”

“I saw on the news that the store was probably laundering money for a gang. Oh, we have to call the police and also warn Leslie, they might be after him.”

“I think he was armed, oh God, I was so scared.”

“Breathe, dear. Everything is fine. I’m going to look for Leslie’s number, I think I have it on the fridge. Maybe you could call the police.”

“Yes, I’ll call them.”

“And I’ll bring you another glass of water.”

“Thank you so much.”

The minute the old lady went to the kitchen, Beth dialed Stan’s number.

“Hello, Stan. Look, the thing I said I was going to do, it’s done. Please, I’ll text you an address. There’s been a breaking-and-entering, the apartment of the manager of the Fine & Frugal that was robbed. Some gang member entered, he was looking for cash. You’ll find a lot of evidence there that someone was trying to run away.”

“Beth…”

“C’mon, say it was an anonymous call for help. Look under his bed, under the couch and in the bathroom. Apprehend the computer. I have to go.”

The lady came back.  

“I think this is the number, did you call the police?”

“They are own their way, I’m going downstairs so I can wait for them. Maybe you could call your neighbor, I need some air. Some cigarettes as well.”

“Of course, honey. You do that.”

“Thank you so much.”

Beth left the apartment and rushed down the stairs. She waited for the police on the other side of the street. They rushed into the building. Stan was there. Everything was going according with her plan.

She walked away until she was far enough and called for a taxi to take her home.

Dean. Mary Pat. Frank. Stan. Boomer. Check.

Everything was working. Now she just needed to talk to Greg and think about what she would do to plea her case and get back in Rio’s good graces.

 

-

 

Getting home and sitting on her couch after all that craziness was a blessing. She didn’t even know what she was going to do now but staying there wasn’t the answer.

The house was so suffocating. Everything she tried to hide this last years piled up and now the house felt so full, so build up with frustration and anger, grief. A place where she felt so useless and unloved, where she was betrayed.  Of course, it was the place where her babies grew up, took their first steps, said their first words, became these children leaving a little of their amazing personalities in every room. But the truth was that the house was almost haunted, by her father’s ghost, by her misery, by her husband’s betrayal, failing her family. She needed to get away.

Looking at the kitchen she could also see the first place she ever saw Rio, how he talked about the backsplash, trying to scare them. The table where his boy pointed the gun at her, where she cried trying to convince him to keep her alive, trying also so hard to hide the fact that she wasn’t afraid. The fucking kitchen table that starred in the fantasy she told Agent Turner. The table that left her a little flushed every time she served blueberry pancakes to the kids.

The place where she finally let herself be free, but also the place that grounded her for so long. The thing was, she had outgrown this house.

She had to leave.

First, Beth got two bottles of bourbon and some groceries to last her for a few days. The safe-house was good but was way out of town and in the middle of the highway, way up a hidden street between the forest.

Second, she got all the files she had and her laptop. She needed to plan, draw up her case, convince Rio that she was the most perfect queen for him. It’s been a while since her lawyer days, but she knew she was a very cutthroat vicious shark in court, she had a lot of nerve and a long winning streak on Mock Trial during law school. She could argue anything, but that was like a decade ago. And she made herself believe the things she was saying. She would play the character of anyone, could argue in favor of anyone, from religious anti-abortion activists to environmentalists.

This was her life. She needed to tell the man she was in love with, who happened to be a criminal king, that she deserved a chance after she stole from him a second time but also delivered him to the feds.

Man, even the old lawyer part of her knew there was no winning this case without big sacrifices. There was no way her defense would hold in court, with Rio as the judge. He would end her and leave her with life with no chance of parole. Or death penalty. She was a snitch, and she did it for egotistical reasons. It was time to think about an alternative.

There had to be a way out of this.

 It wasn’t until she was loading up the car that she remembered the beeper thing that had woken her up this morning, she needed to figure this out too. It was probably something Rio had left her.

Getting in the car and driving to her safe-house out of town was weird. Actually, having the safe-house was always a weird thing to her, because she had changed her life, technically she didn’t need it anymore. But somehow, she never got rid of it. Some feeling deep inside of her always made her think about the day she would need it. That the day would come, eventually.

The moment she stepped inside she started to cry. She felt so nervous, so lost. The house was very minimalistic, comfortable. It was full of her favorite books and a piano. Everything she had at her grandparents’ house when she was little and spent her summers there. When she was a kid she loved to just play for hours. Her parents would sit on the couch beside the instrument and would demand their favorite sonatas. Her father always favored the more melancholic ones, her mother liked fast and dramatic.

Beth touched her piano. When her father died, she kind of had a meltdown and told Dean she would sell it. He always thought she did, but when the time came, she just moved it to the safe-house.

She sat on the bench and touched the keys. The piano was a little dusty, but the keys were protected. After trying some notes, she started to tune it. Her teacher had her well-trained so her relative pitch was very good. She always kept herself tuned with music, doing her errands always listening to her favorites.

When she was thirteen and Annie was starting to ask her for her favorite lullabies, she went to her teacher and asked about composing. It wasn’t the easiest, but she wrote a song for Annie, based on her personality and gave her a performance for her birthday. Their parents record it and Annie went to sleep for years to that song.

During her first pregnancy, she used to come to the safe-house and play it for the baby. Or she would hum, whistle the same rhythm. When she looked at Kenny’s eyes, she decided to give composing another shot.

Every time she became pregnant after that she would compose a new song whilst in France. She would tune herself to her baby’s need and feel a little bit to compose. There was one for each of her babies, and for Sadie, Sarah and Harry too. But her time composing the songs for her babies was sacred. She would talk to her dad and she would feel so complete again that she would run straight to the house and sit in her piano, eyes full of tears, heart full of love.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her cell phone ringing. It must have been for a while because she had a lot of missed calls and unread messages.

Most were from Annie, Ruby and a missed call from Mary Pat. Oh, that was weird. Did something had happened with Boomer?

“Hello. Beth?”

“Yes, you called? Did something go wrong?”

“I just wanted to let you know that, well, Boomer’s in jail. Was that your doing? I mean, we were talking over dinner when his neighbor called and said that his place was broke in. I went over with him, so he wouldn’t suspect of my good intentions, was I right to do that?”

“I don’t know, if you felt like doing it, probably would support your narrative better. What happened?”

“We got there, and the police was investigating, the FBI was there also. We were very shocked. His neighbor said that a woman had saw a tattooed man looking through his stuff.”

“Well, Boomer has been trying to bust us and that was getting on the way of some powerful people.”

“Maybe, but then something weird happened, they found some things and collected some evidence and asked him to follow them to the precinct. I haven’t seen him for a while, they are interrogating him. The guy said something about a robbery. Was that you?”

“Why would you think that? Well, the grocery store he works for, where my sister works too, was robbed indeed. Maybe he had something to do with this, I don’t know. I just know the store was a location.”

“For money laundering? Did Boomer know?”

“I don’t know. I actually don’t know much about him, just that he is a scumbag who tried to rape my little sister.”

“Why did you ask me to keep him away?”

“Mary Pat, please tell me you’re not talking about this in a police precinct.”

“Uh, I’m not- I’m outside, smoke break.”

“Didn’t know you smoked, actually. Oh wait, the stress thing. I get it, I do it sometimes too. You can only imagine how bored I felt sometimes, with the kids in school and with Dean as a husband, a few smokes here and there, it’s in the blood. My dad loved cigars.” She was trying to delay Mary Pat’s thinking a bit, meddle in her train of thought, messing with her focus.

“Beth- did you told the gang about Boomer? Because if they find out about us, they can hurt me and my children!”

“Mary Pat, I don’t trust you enough to know if you’re not recording this phone call or just in speakerphone to the whole precinct, but after our conversation, I’ll assume not.”

“No, I-“.

“I’ll just say this. Boomer deserves to go to jail, and you shouldn’t visit him during his stay, he is a disgusting man.”

“I just want to know-“.

“No, there is no one after you, ok? No one knows your involvement with our doings. But they can, so do remember that. I think you should stay with him for now. This way he won’t suspect our little deal.”

“Of course, I’ll-“.

“I’ll even give you some money to pay the nanny. You can call this a bonus for your services. Now, I asked you away because I wanted to find some proof that he was framing my sister for drug possession, but I never got to go there, because Ruby’s daughter is in the hospital and after there I went home and slept. It’s been a long week.”

“Oh.”

“Do me another favor, will you? Tell me what they are charging him for, please. I mean, he’s my sister’ boss. I know he is a coward and a rapist, but if he’s being arrested for something darker, I would like to know, so I can tell her to quit. It has been the second robbery in a few months and Annie said that there’d been others. I’m worried.”

“Uh, ok. I’ll tell you.”

“Thanks Mary Pat, I’ll visit you on the end of the week, with your incentive. Ah, another thing, darling. Don’t forget about our earlier talk, alright?”

“I won’t.”

“And also, use this opportunity to get away from him, once he is in jail. What I said, about not knowing him, is true. He can be violent, so don’t do anything to anger him, ok? Even with you being an annoying pain in my ass with all that blackmailing and threatening, you’re still a single mom, and us ladies gotta stick together, right?”

“Yes, I-“.

“I admire you, Mary Pat. Not every woman that just lost her husband react the way you did. Sometimes they just forget about family and everything, they get selfish. Glad you didn’t, that you are a good mom for your children. All things aside, you respect you for that. Didn’t like the blackmailing and your cockiness, but I understand it.”

“Thanks.”

“We could’ve been really good friends, once upon a time, to be from the same mom group, children in the same school. But you know what, I think we’d be even better ones right now. Maybe still will, if you won’t try to blackmail me again. Good night, keep me posted.”

So everything was going according to plan. Great.

Unread messages.

From Annie: _Beth, u home? Tried 2 call u._

From Annie: _Beth, Tyler just called, said he heard they know who robbed the store, said he didn’t tell anything, they want to interrogate me tomorrow._

From Annie: _u said u were goin to handle it, Tyler said it wasn’t him. Was it u?_

From Annie: _Beth!!!!!!!!!_

From Annie: _Stan just called. Boomer is jail._

From Annie: _Beth, u ok? Did the gang get 2 u?_

From Annie: _Beth, if u r having sex w/ gang friend rn ill kill u._

From Ruby: _Annie is freaking out here, please answer her, I spent all day on the hospital, I can’t deal with her right know. God, she’s annoying._

From Ruby: _She’s sending me orange is the new black gifs, Beth._

From Ruby _: I blame you._

From Ruby: _Shit, did you send Boomer to jail, girl? Stan said he’s at the precinct._

From Annie: _BETH, OH MY GOD._

From Ruby: _Annie is telling me in a very detailed manner what she’s thinking you’re doing right now. She’s a very deprived woman._

From Ruby: _Starting to worry, though._

Annie was so fucking dramatic. She said she would handle it, dammit. But hey, it was her fault that her sister didn’t know that her skills in manipulation varied from emotional to criminal.

“Annie, I’m gonna talk and you’re going to listen, ok? I’m fine, they don’t know shit. I framed Boomer, it’s airtight. He’s going to go down for masterminding the robbery, for framing and stalking you, drug possession and trying to flee the country. Yes, I did it and he deserved it. They are going to ask you about the person who you took to the vault. You can say the person was trying to modulate their voice, so they’ll think it’s because you would recognize his. Also, if it comes to this, and it probably won’t, you went to the hospital straight home and I was with you.”

“Am I in the phone with my sister or a fucking double agent or something?”

“Both.”

“Alright, respect!”

“They’re asking for you because he cyberstalked you and maintained a couples of photos of you, also the drugs from you locked will match the ones in his house. Tell them about the harassment and that you think he framed you. If they try to ask beyond that ask for a lawyer and call me, ok?”

“Sure. Look at you, barely divorced Dean and you already are much better. This new Beth is sexy, I like you confident and mischievous.”

“Well, call me Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth, huh? It’s been a long while, but I think I know why you revived this. Don’t think I don’t know. I’m your sister, I can read you very well, like the palm of my fucking hand.”

“Sure. Good night, Annie. Stop bothering Ruby with your crazy fantasies.”

“You wish you could fool me, but you can’t Elizabeth Rose Mérrieux.”

“Please, don’t full name me. It doesn’t work, you don’t have the credibility for it. Look, go to sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day, maybe you’ll even get a promotion, if you play it right.”

“Elizabeth, queen of lies and manipulation would know, right? You’re vicious, I love it. A hell of a closer, nothing you can’t deal with.”

“Good night, Annie.”

“You always were, that’s why half your cases never went to court, remember? Sometimes you just made it go away by pointing out your opponents’ mistakes or fixing your client’s. Just a deal and everyone was happy. Imagine how much money you would have now if you had pursued? You would probably need to pay Dean a pension.”  

“You are a flatterer, Annie. What do you want?” She asked. But she didn’t care. _You are also a genius, little sis._ She knew what she had to do now to get herself off Rio’s death list. “Anyway, I have to go, my head is exploding.”

“Yo, I’m going to your house, where you at?”

“Just out of town, I have some things I need to fix.”

“Alright, up north or-“.

“Kind of going that way, yes.”

“Canada, because if it is, just remember to bring something nice from there. Maybe some wrapping paper.”

“Annie, you are already eating my food for a few days, I won’t bring you anything. Good night, Annie bananie.”

“Good night, Betsy Wetsy.”

“I hated those fucking dolls.”

“I know, do you prefer itsy betsy spider?”

“No, that’s just wrong. It’s itsy bitsy.”

“Lizzie Bizzy Buzzy Wuzzie?”

“Stop, please.”

“Ellie belly.”

“Oh God, why are you so annoying?”

“Why do you care, Pizza Elizza.”

“Just stick with Beth then, please.”

“Sure, pumpkin. Red. Ginge. Firefly. Match head.”

“You are so irritating, Anne Margaret. I just want you to know, and if you keep this up, I’ll call you Marge for a month. Gonna get Ruby on it too.”

“Uh, resorting to this to stop me, huh.”

“Good niiiight, Annieee!”

“Hey, Bethy.”

“WHAT?”

“Thanks”. Annie’s voice just sounded so, relieved and grateful. She remembered the times where her sister was alone after their mother’s first spontaneous getaway, after their father had passed, when Beth would just hold her to sleep and make her company.

And now she was thanking Beth for getting rid of the men who almost ruined her life that night. To making sure she won’t see him for a long while.

“Always, Annie. Always.”

“I don’t know why I can’t go to sleep, you know? I’m just feeling so, I don’t know, relieved, and giddy, and kind of nauseous, but also scared, scared about what could’ve been, you know. If you weren’t there with a fake gun and a bottle of bourbon.”

“You don’t have to think about that. Never. Because I was there and I’ll always be there, here, wherever you need me, Annie. Look, I’m coming back, ok. I’ll be here in an hour max-”

“No! Just, just stay with me until I fall sleep. I know it sounds stupid. Also, I’m going to your house like NOW, I hope you know that. I can’t just stay here, it’s like- it’s tainted.”

“You can sleep in my bed, hugging my favorite sweater if you need, boo-boo. There are no monsters under the bed, believe me, Emma and I checked last week and everything.”

“Don’t treat me like a child, Beth.”

“Well, tell me when you arrive and we can talk until you fall sleep, honey. I’ll be there with you, I promise.”

“It’s fine, I-“.

“You were already at my house, weren’t you? Munching off my food and hogging my cable.”

“Yes, I just- After the call, I couldn’t stay there. Because even though I know he’s detained and I also would never open the door for him, I- it doesn’t feel like home anymore. I took a bath also, your bathroom is so much better than mine, your shower’s pressure, on point.”

“All right. What you wanna talk about?”

“Lizzie.”

“What?”

“Remember when you were Lizzie and you wrote me a song? You wanted to call it Annie and you would sing it to me every time with a different lyric, but once I did it, and I called it Lizzie, because it was prettier, and you were the most amazing person I knew at the time. You would play the piano and I would fall sleep close to it, because when I tried to climb it you always screamed at me.”

“Of course.”

“Only dad called you Lizzie. Uncle Steve called you Eliza. I would call you Ellie or Liz, others called you Elizabeth. But no one called you Beth, but Dean. And then you married him, and you were Beth to most everyone and then dad died, and you were either Beth, or you just weren’t.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I part of me died with him, after the accident, when I woke up in the hospital and he wasn’t there or anywhere else in the world. He was just gone, Lizzie and Eliza gone with him, with them. It was only Beth that I had left. I just never realized that you would miss her so much, I- I never realized, I’m so sorry, Annie. I- I just realized I was so fucking selfish, I’ve been lackluster, I left you alone. I- I was so angry with mum for leaving us, for not reacting but I just realized that a big part of me, the part you loved the most, also left you.”

“Beth, stop. You didn’t leave me, ok? I learned to love the new Beth and you were always there, Eliza. In your little wicked smile, in the way you played with our children, the way you’d hum or sing softly when they asked. I’m just glad you are figuring some stuff out. You always tried to fix everything for us, but you never fixed yourself, never thought about your grief, you didn’t let yourself mourn.”

“I guess you’re right, I just- I lost too much. I know you did too, you were robbed of the perfect life with both parents and amazing places that I had. But now we are going to talk about everything, right? You can tell me anything and we will move on together, ok?”

“Yeah.”

“Great.” She paused for a while, how could she be so stupid? “Are you in bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Was it something like this?” And she started to sing the song her little sister had made for her a lifetime ago.

_Oh, Lizzie, lizzie, pretty pretty lizzie._

_I love you to the moon and back._

“Oh God.” Annie moaned. “It’s embarrassing.”

_Daddy’s lizzie, lizzie, lizzie._

“What was I thinking?”

“You were five, Annie.”

“Worst lyrics ever.”

_Your eyes are blue like the sky_

_You always make me pie._

“Stop, please. Wait, was that a piano? Where are you? You are in your secret piano place? I mean, I know you still have it, but I thought it was in storage or something.”

“It is. I just, I’m in a friend’s house, they have this small piano, not mine.”

“Please, just play for me, not more embarrassing lyrics I didn’t know you remembered.”

“How could I forget about the time you thought I was prettier than you and you only had compliments for me and my apple pie.”

“Your pie is still pretty good.”

“Pretty good? I remember there were two or three more verses about my pie, mixed up with the ones about my hair.”

“You manipulated me.”

“Ok, Annie. Just shut up and listen, I’m tired too.”

Beth started playing again, the song she still remembered like she had composed it yesterday. The song she played non-stop for years, until she had to go to college and Annie had to make do with a recording.

She played until her fingers were kind of complaining about this much stretch after a long break. She heard Annie’s light snoring and finished the call.

But it was thanks to that call that she knew now what she had to do, how she would plea her case to Rio and win his trust back.

The trip down memory lane helped her see a lot she almost forgot about herself. She was a very skilled negotiator and always made the best deals, always convinced everyone to meet in the middle (or a place she manipulated to) and forget court, specially in the cases she knew she couldn’t win.

Elizabeth never put herself on a position where she wasn’t sure she would win. She always knew all the exits and all the scenarios, all the alternatives, everything that could happen to her, to the others involved. All the times she got herself in a place, it was the exact place she wanted to be, even if she was locked away in solitary with no way out or bound to a chair with gunmen all around.

There was no way she was going to let Rio win this. He was a king, but she was tired to submit to the mighty men. She was ready to show the world that Elizabeth was back to be a fucking queen, and she was going to have the best ruling everyone had seen.

That if Rio thought she would be a pretty trophy to parade in appearances and benefits, to show the hypocritical and dirty society in this town that he was the fucking king and all she brought to the table was a pretty face and distraction, status, he was in for a surprise.

            She had her own ideas, her own plans. If she really was going to give herself fully to the crime king of Detroit, then she was going to take his empire to a even mightier ascension.

            But first, she had to close the case, get herself a plea deal. What Rio wanted from her? An explanation, but she wasn’t ready to tell him everything, not the absolute truth. A partial one was ok, maybe something about her origin, what happened with her father, something that would make sense, to show him that she could defend herself and that’s why she was so full of herself on their reunion at her house that day.

            He also wanted to know why she framed him with the robbery. That she suspected he knew, but she wasn’t ready to admit out loud, to him. How could she say to him she was so fucking angry with him solving her like a puzzle, seeing through the years of barriers she built, calling her out from what she was and then denying her what she wanted.

Him.

She wanted him, fucking God dammit. And he wanted her as well, she could tell just by looking at him, she was able to even when they first met in her kitchen. She had denied herself, denied him also, because she wasn’t ready and when she was, he didn’t want her.

_You’re being a bit hypocritical, Elizabeth. Not everything has to happen when you want._

Well, she was always a brat, even after Annie was born, she was spoiled. She lived everywhere, everybody always said she was too pretty, too smart, too perfect. Always got what she wanted, until the moment she lost everything and then she spent 10 years denying herself of everything she wanted.

It’s been too fucking long.

She knew they played a game. For months they danced together, the rhythm dictated by both and he always seemed to have the lead, that he was conducting, he was taking charge in their seducing pas de deux. But now she knew that it was in her pace.

It was her song, it was her fucking choreography. He respected her too much, that was the truth, and she betrayed him. He was deserving of an explanation and that was: she was in love.

One should never trust a woman in love, specially one like her, nearing forty and experimenting this feeling for the first time. A woman in love is easy to manipulate, and she had done just that. She manipulated herself and everyone to end up where they were that night: she, revealing herself and her feelings to Rio. Finally opening her cage.

She owed him one. An explanation, an apology, the truth. An offering of peace, a way for him to trust her again.

Partially, she could give him that. Needed a bit more, though. She needed help and there was only one person that could help her with that, one person who would understand where she was coming from. One that had already met her at seventeen and saw the birth of Elizabeth as woman, as Codename Jane.

Annie was too young to remember properly and Ruby never saw the day to day. Her mother was out of the question, because not only she never approved or wanted to know about what she was doing that time, but also, she was to never know about their little brush with crime.

Her mother was going to freak if she was to know about her daughters robbing grocery stores and smuggling fake cash and laundering it to a street gang/organized crime empire. 

She needed to talk to Miguel, but it would be too damn close to the deadline. He was in New York, that was a 10-hour drive if she went crazy, it would lose her a day.

To Miguel: _What should I do if I needed the person I betrayed to forgive me?_

 

-

 

The next day Beth slept in. She was mentally tired of all the things she had to do to tie up all the loose ends of their little scam.

Everything was going well. Boomer was in jail, Mary Pat was dealt with, divorce papers were just waiting to be sign and filed, everything was going smoothly. Of course, she still needed to do the hardest part and that was to deal with Rio. She needed to buy some time to herself. Over twelve years passed since she was the full-on Elizabeth she was coming back to.

And she still needed to talk to Greg, to trade carefully around Annie. Her sister was in a very good place and the last thing she needed was her ex coming in her way. She’ll never understand how Annie gets so emotional near Greg. They weren’t that in love with each other when she became pregnant and they only got married because it would be easier for the baby and of course it imploded in their faces.

Beth still remembered her sister’s eyes red from crying and the painful process of their divorce. Then Nancy happened and now the custody. How could Greg do this, she had warned him not to hurt her little sister. Now she just had to remind him.

But first, she had to come up with a plan, exactly what she’s going to do. Grabbing her cellphone, she saw that Miguel had answered her text.

From Miguel: _It depends on the betrayal but try to show the person you respect her and try to remedy what you did. Are we talking about your mother? Call me as soon as you get this, I might need to know more._

Miguel was wonderful, but her mother was the last thing in her mind right know. She needed to protect the people she loved that stayed here, stayed with them. Not a selfish woman who left her family behind.

“Hello, dear. How are you?” It was the typical Miguel greeting on the phone. Always so formal.

“I’m fine, just woke up, actually. I just want to confirm our meeting as soon as you’re back.”

“I’ll call you right off the plane.”

“Also, wanted to give you a little more detail on the thing I texted you about. It’s not my mother. It’s a work thing. I was getting into business with this guy, but he lied to me about the risks on one of the operations and I lashed out at him, ending our partnership. It was kind of brutal.”

“You’re being vague, so I guess you’re not telling me about what business you were involved on, with this guy. Also, no names, so I won’t push it. Are you trying to resume your business deals, I suppose?”

“Maybe, not exactly. I got worried, he is a ruthless business man and I thought he was going to destroy me in the field, blacklist me or something for what I had done, so I told on him.”

“Told on him?”

“I implicated him on some shady deals and gave away information to a competitor. But now that I understand my reasoning behind theses actions, I’m seeing that I fucked up, basically. Now I’m trying to get him to trust me again.”

“But his dealings are illegal in some kind? What did you implicate him on?”

“No, just gave some information to someone who shouldn’t have them and now I might have given the competitor too much leverage.”

“Let me see. That is a trick one.”

Exactly. What could she do now? Turner knows about Fine & Frugal and she can’t just make him forget about it. He had more information on Rio because of her. Rio wasn’t worried when he came to her and she told him they were lovers. But he got arrested in front of everyone. His image had taken a blow and Turner knew too much.

And it wasn’t like she could kill him. Well, she could, but she shouldn’t. She killed a lot of people back in the day, but never innocent people. Not that Turner was a saint, but she didn’t know anything, if he was corrupt or just a law-abiding pain-in-the-ass federal agent.

Also, it would attract too much attention to this case, they would probably blame it on Rio. Shit would hit the fan, she didn’t need this.

“There is no way to get the leverage back?”

“No. I gave him info, once he has it, he can’t unknown it.”

“I know, but all information has to be backed. He might know the things, but if you take away the proof, the information is useless, I imagine. He knows about the deal but doesn’t know how to prove it. Is there a way you could get it back?”

Well, shit.

“I’ll be damned, you’re right.”

“We both know you have the skills to do a little corporate espionage, not that I endorse this, but you were always playing on the grey area and I’m no saint, so I won’t judge. And you and your happiness come first.”

“There is a way. It’s going to be tricky, though.”

“Nothing you can’t handle it.”

“Nothing at all, you’re right, Miguel. Thank you so much and I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Of course, looking forward for your news, it’s been a while. And I just want to say, it’s good to see you involved with work again, I bet there is that sparkle back in your beautiful eyes. I hope you can fix this.”

“Me too, Miguel, I appreciate your help.”

Well, she had a plan now. If she wanted Rio to trust in her again and correct her mistakes, she would need to bring back everything she had.

Was being a spy just like riding a bike? She sure fucking hoped so.

Because to win her case, she was going to have to break into the FBI.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked some of it, I'm very self-conscious about this chapter so far. Please leave me some comments about what you think will or should happen next and stuff like that.  
> Please talk to me.  
> Also, I promise in the next one Rio is back and will know a lot more about him.  
> And a few surprises (that may or may not be very implictly buried on the last chapters. 
> 
> Enjoy! ox


	8. Game. Set. Match?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He’s a royal pain in the ass, that man. But right now, all I want is to fuck up his face for looking at you like that. All men look at you, Elizabeth, they would be stupid not to, but his eyes trying to own you, makes me wish I had killed him a long time ago.”
> 
> “He can’t own me, nobody can. But the only man I’d be willing to let and try is you, so he can pester me all day and night with the goodness of his heart and recite me the dangers of living just off the limits of legality, well- I don’t care. I’d rather spent an eternity a criminal with you than a minute as perfectly good girl with anyone else.”
> 
> “But you not a good girl, right Elizabeth?”
> 
> She just laughed.
> 
> “I can be good, very good, when I want to. You’ll see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter is so much longer than I intended in the first place, but I have no control of what i write.  
> I have no idea what to think about it. I like it a lot, it sets the tone for what's to come, I guess.  
> Now, I'm no longer "following" canon per se.  
> I love the new episode, even though I wanted Beth to do it, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's been almost a week, so is it still a spoiler? I guess maybe.  
> I'll be doing a few things I loved about the episode on the series, and it's kind of a thing I was already planning that is *SPOILER ALERT* Turner's sexuality. Kinda.  
> So, let me know what you guys think of this chapter and the first episode or something. I'm trying to write a little more so I'll have a better updating schedule, but I'm working now, so I don't know.  
> But when I watch the episodes I become very inspired. Got me a week to actually tweek the chapter a little, but I have a lot of the next ones written already.  
> The promo for the next one is also bomb, so maybe I'll have a lot of inpiration for the next chapters to come.  
> Good read!  
> PS: also, I based a lot of the hacking shit of Watch Dogs and Criminal Minds.

The next few days were for planning. She brainstormed, studied characters, planned everything to the smallest detail. Every possible outcome, she drew up an exit. Contingency plans for everything, risk management.

She had a little less than 4 days when she contacted Helena.

She had good hacking skills, but that was for 13 years ago. A lot of the tech they had was ahead of its time, but it’s much more complex now. She dabbled here and there, even as a housewife she would sometimes refine her skills. She maintained some gadgets in her safe-house, she would sometimes go to a shooting range and just let everything bad leave her body away with the bullets. After the first encounter with Rio and his boys, Beth decided she couldn’t leave it to chance. She went to shooting range, hit up some instructors, but with her everything was pure talent and muscle memory. Of course, she needed her finesse back, but the skill was still there.

Elizabeth was a weapon, a very well-trained and powerful one. She had been groomed by her uncle all her life, so it all came natural to her. In her off years, she would use her skills for some daily things, things she didn’t even notice.

Her driving skills to pick up the kids in rush hour, her calculating mind to do everything well and organized, her easiness to lie for creating a whole new persona.

When she decided that she was going to make the files on Rio’s case vanish in front of Agent Turner’s eyes, she knew she would have to prepare. She decided for doing that on Friday and going straight to Rio with the files. The rest of her days she would use to prepare and then her talk with Miguel to relax.

He was the closest to a paternal figure she still had. In fact, the only _parental_ figure, since her mother could hardly count after she left them.

The rest of the days she spent planning everything meticulously. Beth might be coming back to her old self, but she was alone. No team to back her up. And even when she had a team, she always planned everything to the tiniest detail. She was known for it. For her ruthlessness and for the cold way she reacted to everything.

Going in the old grapevine she found the best girl she had worked with before. Beth always had professionals she liked to keep on retainer, that did things well and payed off for her. The little red notebook had all her old contacts and she knew that her favorite hacker would be perfect for the job.

The girl owed her a favor. It was time to collect.

Getting ahold of her wasn’t easy, the info she had was a little outdated, but when she got in the chat, she wanted to cause an impression.

She wanted to make it clear she wasn’t playing and that scamming her would be a big mistake. Fear is a powerful tool on this line of work. Beth was proud she was just as good as tracking people as she was in the old days.

Beth logged on using her alias from back in the day. Jane Seymour, it was the only name people knew her from. No one knew she was Elizabeth Mérrieux, her father made sure. She had been undercover inside her own team, the only person who found out her diplomat’ daughter status was Ophelia, but she was dead, thank God.

 **Helena Pierce, long time no see.** She typed. Helena was the hacker real name. They worked together in person and Beth was a super spy, of course she had known the life behind the hacking skills.

She was one of the only ones though.

 **BloodLily91: How do you know that name?** Helena knew she was MIA, probably dead. Her resurfacing after well over a decade has passed was unusual.

In their line of work, people don’t work with assumptions.

 **Knew you in your bad boy days, Clara Lille.** Clara Lille was her online moniker of sorts. She had had a lot of user names and aliases, but her image was created from the Clara Lille character.

**BloodLily91: Jane Seymour, holy shit. You’ve been dormant. Thought you were dead, actually. You the real thing? Gonna cause up some trouble?**

Of course, she was the real thing. She knew her name, right? Almost no one else did. **You thought what I wanted you to think. A dormant volcano is just as dangerous; just remember I can become active at any minute still.**

**BloodLily91: You might need to give me some proof, I had a lot of old friends of yours trying to find you through me some time ago. Never worked though.**

Well, that must have been back when the team dismantled. **Ophelia is dead.**

**BloodLily91: Oh yeah, she did as well, but not talking about her.**

Recently? Shit.

**So that must’ve been Jason, although he was dealt with back then. Who was it?**

**BloodLily91: Not saying shit until some proof. C’mon, just tell me. You know** **what I want.**

Beth knew that the last time they worked together, she left with a security phrase if they needed to contact each other. She just couldn’t remember it in the moment. She knew she had it somewhere. Maybe in her vault?

They worked with literature pieces, a lot of them for create codes to be used during their stunts together.

Leaving the computer, she went to her secret vault and opened it. She had a lot of things in there. Fake identities, passports, everything legit made for her to fit in anywhere. Her favorite weapons were there as well, communicators, things from that time, things she would need if anyone would’ve come after her.

There was a book there. The secret agent. She remembered now, how she gave it a copy to her best associates as a way of emergencies in a way of contact, communication. She remembered that she highlighted a quote in there.

**Madness alone is truly terrifying, inasmuch as you cannot placate it by threats, persuasion, or bribes.**

**BloodLily91: Well, shit. That means you are back in the game?**

Was she back in the game? Fuck’s sake, who was she kidding? Of course, she was back in the game. There was no turning back now. **Yes, and I need you to cook me up an ID and also help steal some archives.**

**BloodLily91: Well, I do owe you one. Owe you a lot.**

That she knew. **Gimme me a government agency persona, get me in the FBI offices in Detroit and I need you to wipe certain documents as well.**

**BloodLily91: This is beyond illegal, you lucky nobody ever caught me, so I won’t be trespassing my probation rules. And then again, I never trusted the feds.**

She missed Helena. They’ve been quite the friends back in the day. The girl had that sarcastic humor that entertained Beth a lot. **This one is for me, I need a credible way to get in, past security and pass up as a DEA agent. And I need it for Friday morning, if possible. Or impossible.**

**BloodLily91: You know me, I always have something already prepared. By the looks of it you’re going to a strawberry blonde phase. Back to the classics. Love it. I’ll make you a brunette.**

The girl probably had all of her like already. At least what she could dig from the computer she kept in the safe-house. **And the docs?**

**BloodLily91: I can get in, but it would be better if you could get me in, I’ll work it up something and give you on a flash drive. I imagine you don’t need me here, but its nice to know I have a place near the next time I need to relocate. I’m guessing I’ll be back on your little black book.**

If there was one person she had on retainer back then that she wanted for business contacts now, that person would be Helena. **Yeah. You have to make it look like I was requested to go there. That I have the power to enter and go through everything. I’ll also need a way to get in everywhere in there. I need to know everything about the place. I’ll send you the coordinates. I need to know everything about a case against a gang that’s being led by an agent James Turner.**

**BloodLily91: Rio Castillo? Sounds fun. You want to clear his name? I can already see the least guarded files on the system, they have physical evidences too. You’ll have to really get in there. I better get to work, I’ll be in touch.**

That went well.

**Good to find you again.**

**BloodLily91: You’ll also be receiving some equipment. The must-haves. Some instructions on how to not need me all the time.**

She had the blueprints of the bureau where Turner was based. Getting the camera setting was a little harder, but, luckily, she knew where to look.

Helena sent her a bunch of new info to update her plans and she began to work on how to wipe those archives. She had talked Beth into claiming she was Interpol, it would be easy with her old agency’s ties to the international police. She used even her a variance of her own fake name: Mary Jane.

Had to talk Helena out of giving her the surname Watson, though.

Apparently, Helena still had the sense of humor.

She was orchestrating some stunts to track down some cartel members known to have association with Rio. It was very believable.

Helena said it would be better if she would speak with an accent that wasn’t very mainstream, so they couldn’t pinpoint her to an exact place, making it harder to track her upon discovering that the files were gone.

After careful consideration she settle for Latin languages, creating a mix of Spain and Portugal, that were known countries to have links with cartels, even becoming permanent residency from a lot of drug and crime groups and leaders.

Thirty-six hours later of dealing with the plans, she was so tired she passed out on the bed. Waking up she knew what she had to do. She had to talk to Greg and then she would prepare for tomorrow, call Turner and arrange for a meeting, also talk to Miguel about everything.

The stunt was tomorrow morning. Helena was ready to attack them with velocity and finesse.

Getting up deep in the night, Beth dressed to go to the hotel bar. Elegant black dress, her other pearl necklace and highest heels. She knew that Turner would be there, Helena had set up a bait that said that Rio would be there meeting his mistress. Beth had to be seen there.

The restaurant was well frequented by Rio and his main associates. They were actually trying to move the pieces so Rio would actually be there after, so Turner would see him and believe in Beth’ status a little better.

Apparently, she got word to Rio’s second in command that Turner would be cornering Beth there. She wanted him to watch her, to see her stand her ground, but also to confuse him of what she was doing.

Everything had to be perfect.

 

            -

 

Greg was there, sat by the hotel bar, looking sharp. Beth walked to him and sat right beside him.

“Bourbon, please.”

“Beth, what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Surely you must know why I’m here, Greg. We are hardly strangers and what I liked about you is that you were always direct.”

“So you know.”

“Of course, I know. What were you thinking?” She asked him, sipping the bourbon that was just place in front of here. “You know, for someone trying to build a family, you’re not making smart decisions, then again-“.

“If I was smart, I would’ve never come here to listen to your obvious painful talks that usually turns my whole world around. Last time got my signature on some divorce papers. Not sure I want to hear you this time.”

“Well, too bad. Was I wrong back there? You and Annie never had any intentions on getting married, so when my little sister started to cry almost every day, well- that’s what you get when you marry for the wrong reasons.”

He scoffs. “Really?”

“I say that from experience.”

“Oh really? Because I always thought you genuinely loved Dean, the man you’ve been married to since forever.” His voice was so full of irony and contempt that Beth knew she was striking a nerve.

“It’s over. Us. It was never about love, so-“.

“I know, Beth. I always knew. You and I were friends once. I knew you never was at your happiest by that time, but I also knew you were at your lowest when you were around him. Almost like you regretted every single second the decision to marry him. Got better once Kenny was born, but-“.

“So we both know that.”

“No, that’s where you’re wrong. You might not believe me, but I love Annie and I always loved her, always will. It wasn’t some excuse to get away from my parents, it wasn’t about convenience or duty. She was miserable so I got away, got back to my parents, let them talk me into doing what they always wanted. Pretty house, pretty wife. It’s not me though. IVF wasn’t my idea, I just reluctantly relented like I always do.”

He looked at her and laughed miserably.

“Like I did when you went to me and said that I should let Annie go.”

“I just-“.

“You are brilliant, Beth. But what you see isn’t always the truth, you gotta learn that. You and Annie, for all the family issues you have now, after everything, you guys grew up with one hell of a family. Your parents were amazing, your uncle. My parents were just… my parents. On paper, during parties and events, on the social pages, in front of friends, when demanding, while judging, controlling my life.”

“I guess…”

“It’s better than not having them? You would think so, but because Henry and Sienna were amazing parents. My folks try to justify bigotry with money, all they want is a good picture for the Christmas cards and perfection on parties. I’m getting tired of it, you know. It wasn’t perfect, but I never been happier than when I was counting money for bills in that marriage.”

“You just have to stop, you know it doesn’t work. She’s miserable with you, Greg. And it’s not fair for you to have her and the perfect family too. You can’t have both, the perfect wife and big house and maintain my sister as a mistress.”

“Don’t you think I know that? It was never meant to happen even though I- I never should’ve listened to you that first time. But I have no choice than to listen to you now, it’s too late. I just want her to be happy and I have to accept I can’t make her happy.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I still like you, Beth. Even though you sometimes act just like my parents. But you better take care, because Annie won’t appreciate you manipulating her life like that, she won’t forgive you. And you were wrong: I did love her, it wasn’t because of Sadie or anything. I just regret it took me listening to you and divorcing her to realize she was all I needed. I just wish I could go back and try to make it work better. I’d rather have that than all the money and illusion.”

“Greg-“.

“At least I can give some security to Sadie right now. I never wanted to take her away from Annie, Beth. But she was lost, she can’t live through Sadie.”

“You won’t tell her, right?”

“Of course not. It would break her. She’s getting better. We talked in the last few days, I guess she’s ready to start living again. Sadie will be able to be with her whenever she wants.”

“And what about you?”

“I don’t know what I’m going to go. I’ll leave her alone, but not because of you. I don’t want to mess up her life again.”

“It’ll be better this way, Greg. You are trying to have a baby with your current wife, so it will be emotional draining for Annie to handle this attraction and-“.

“That’s not gonna happen anymore, though.”

“What?”

“I was so guilty after, but even more because I’ll I could think of was Annie. that I didn’t want to hurt her again. Did not even remembered Nancy until later and I didn’t feel as guilty as I should, truth be told, I never really cared that much about emotional aspects of our marriage, because its not that important to me, probably not even for her, we barely talk, you know. Like really talk, outside what sounds almost like marriage mandatory small talk and work, Sadie too, sometimes, but she’s not that interested. I guess she would be even less after a baby to call her own, to show off. That’s not my priority.”

“Are you getting a divorce?”

“Probably. I never wanted kids, you know. Thought myself to be too damaged to take care of kids and not be like my parents, and then Sadie happened. When Annie and I were over, I never saw myself having any other kids. And I guess I still don’t, unless it would be with her, a real family.”

“I just-“.

“It’s- you should trust her more, Beth. To handle her own problems, I know you worried, specially when your father was dead, and she was pregnant and not even out of high school. And you did, for all these years. It’s time for you to stop and pray that she doesn’t finds out either.”

“You are right. It’s me, I was so frustrated with my own life for a while I masterminded everyone else’s.”

 “Just relax a bit. Cheers” he said, brought his glass to hers. “I guess- to divorce.”

 

-

 

After that was finished, Beth scanned the room for Agent Turner. He had to be on his way. She got on her corner of the bar counter and asked a more feminine perceived drink, sipping and looking anxious, trying to find someone.

When James Turner arrived, she saw him, and it was through the mirror that she saw when he noticed her. He was about to walk to her, when his cellphone ringed.

She was the one calling.

“Hello?”

“Agent Turner, is that you?”

“It’s me, I don’t recognize the number-“

“It’s Beth Boland, uh, I don’t know if you remember. I-” she laughed nervously. “I had an affair with the gang leader. An one-night-stand.”

“Of course, I remember you, Mrs. Boland. Did something happen?”

“I saw on the news, he was arrested, it was probably your doing, so he was more dangerous than I imagined. Racketeering charges?”

“That was what he was brought on, yes. There is more, nothing we can prove now, but he is dangerous, so I advise you to stay away.”

“I can’t, I- He’s not detained anymore.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because he came to me. I might have omitted something, uh. He procured me a couple of times. I never- I never talked to him, I was trying to give my marriage another shot, you know? But we fought, my husband and I, after I talked to you, so I went to him.”

“Did he do something to you, Mrs. Boland?”

“Uh, not at that time, no. We resumed, uh- our affair, if we would call it that. But then my husband had a car accident and I saw that he was arrested. I’m just so scared, uh- when I got home that day, he was there.”

“He went after you, Mrs. Boland?”

“I was going to end it, you know. Thought I would visit him, or just text. Didn’t imagine he would get out so easily.”

“He has very good lawyers and our evidence wasn’t as condemning as I would like. If you have anything-“.

“No, I’m just so scared. I- I want to talk to you, he said some things when he was at my house, maybe it will make sense to you. He was armed, I- I knew he had a gun, but it was different this time.”

“Did he hurt you, Mrs. Boland?”

“Please, call me Beth. No, I just was hyperaware of him, I don’t know why, I was just scared, he was angrier than normal.”

“If he goes after you, Beth, please call me. He won’t hurt you. I’ll alert the surveillance team and the cops to do a few rounds at your place.”

“I’m not at home right now. Annie, my sister, has the kids, I had to get away for a bit and he-. I- uh. I’m waiting for him right now, it’s been a while. Maybe tomorrow would be better for us to meet?”

“Sure. How about I’ll you give a visit, or do you want to come and see me?”

“I can do that, go see you, I mean.”

“Perfect. I’ll be doing some rounds early today. How about 5 PM? Same location, we are gathering there, any information will be useful, Beth.”

“I’ll be there, thank you so much.”

 

-

 

When Diego said he had intel on Beth and Turner, Rio became uneasy. Apparently, he was meeting her or following her to a hotel, certain she was meeting Rio there as his mistress.

Rio spent the whole time wondering why they had that intel, until he saw Elizabeth’s message. She was asking to meet him on the hotel they had met before on business. His hotel even though she did not know that.

 When he got there, he saw her, down at the bar, looking like a goddess, a true crime queen in her sexy black dress and red lips. It took one look at her and the constant reminder that she had until tomorrow to convince him she was worth all the trouble and he should forgive her was gone. He groaned. She had way too much power over him, man.

All he wanted was to go up the hotel for a room and ravish her until the deadline, make her convince him with other skills.

Or just fucking say that he fucking loved her, everything be damned. That God protect him, but even if she didn’t have a decent explanation, he would probably end up in her bed tomorrow either way, tasting her finally, just drinking her up like poison.

She was nursing a drink that wasn’t her trusty and beloved bourbon, so she probably wanted to enjoy herself with him.

With his heart pounding and all his blood flowing south, he walked to her.

“Elizabeth, I believed you summoned me, a day early.”

She was looking down and when she heard him, she immediately fixed her perfect blue eyes on him. Her smile was very tentative.

“I-I wanted to see you.”

“There will be no extensions, darling. You know that, yeah?”

“Yes, I know. I’m not here to call for one, even if I don’t know if I’m going to do what you expect tomorrow, Rio.”

Shit. He couldn’t think about her failing in a level that makes him go crazy. He wanted her so much, loved her even. She was everything.

“Elizabeth-“.

“I just wanted to know that Turner- I’ve- he knew something was up. I felt like I was being followed so, I told him I’m your mistress. He’s here right now, doesn’t know I know.”

She’s deductive even.

“Oh, darling, mistress is not a nice word to describe you. I ain’t gonna fuck you and make you look pretty in front of everyone. I want all of you, Elizabeth. The way you look like the goddess of love and whatnot, that’s just the bonus. It was your strength and impertinence that made me fall. I want you everywhere and in everything. My queen, mi reina.”

Her heart was pounding, and she felt dizzy.

“Do you think I’m worth it?”

“Elizabeth, I would give you the world and it would not be enough. I knew from the moment I saw you in that kitchen that you would be mine, yeah?”

God, he was her king, too. All she wanted to do right now was to get on her knees and just worship him, taste him, to give herself away, put herself on his hands. His fingers on her hair, pulling a little too hard and to just goddamn fuck her mouth until she couldn’t feel her throat.

That forceful wish that ran over her body was so foreign for her. She never wanted a man this much. Never wanted anyone this much. Sex was a weapon on her arsenal just like everything else about her. No man ever had her undone, pleasure too much to process. She never felt frozen with want, her insides throbbing, the only heat coming from between her legs, the only thing in her mind a fog red, alerting desire and nothing else.

Well, maybe something else.

Love. Which was even foreigner. But both were so visceral, it was like it ran on her DNA, that every piece of her being was made to short circuit near him.

“I was. Just wished it had been-“

“Blueberry pancakes. Yeah, we have the time, sweetheart. Actually, time’s almost up. Now come on, we have a table. Need to put some food in you, you look a little famished. And I don’t want you passing out tomorrow, getting sick and whatnot. I have plans to leave you exhausted, you gotta get some sustenance, yeah?”

He got her hand in his, kissing it irreverently.

The moment they entered the restaurant room, she felt eyes on them. Well, they made a pretty picture. But she felt Turner watching, with two other agents she had read about on research. For show, she tried to convey a tentative expression, like she was walking on the edge, afraid of falling.

In a way she was. She was giving away her heart.

The more he saw her as a scared mistress, the better. She needed to right her wrongs, and the only way she can is by erasing the Fine & Frugal fuck up.

Rio called up the waiter and ordered wine for them. He asked her what she wanted, and she said for him to choose. She was so nervous she couldn’t even imagine trying to order food.

“He’s a royal pain in the ass, that man. But right now, all I want is to fuck up his face for looking at you like that. All men look at you, Elizabeth, they would be stupid not to, but his eyes trying to own you, makes me wish I had killed him a long time ago.”

“He can’t own me, nobody can. But the only man I’d be willing to let and try is you, so he can pester me all day and night with the goodness of his heart and recite me the dangers of living just off the limits of legality, well- I don’t care. I’d rather spent an eternity a criminal with you than a minute as perfectly good girl with anyone else.”

“But you not a good girl, right Elizabeth?”

She just laughed.

“I can be good, very good, when I want to. You’ll see.”

The waiter brought the wine and the entrees and Rio raised his glass, looking at her with awe and interest.

“To us, darling. Now, since we are out on a date, we should appreciate the opportunity and do date things. Tell me something about yourself.”

“Like you don’t already know.”

“I actually don’t. You see, I wanted to discover you myself, Elizabeth. Of course, I am on a need-to-know basis about your last years, your business, things like that, about your wedding. It doesn’t interest me, I want to know you, the girl who knew the gun was empty in seconds and threatened me, challenged me.”

She wanted to know him too, by herself. That was the reason behind the untouched file on her safe-house.

“Aren’t we being watched?”

“No one can hear us here, specially from there. I think you should know that I own this place, so I own the loyalty of the people that work here. Turner is in my territory, Elizabeth, so for now I own him as well. Tell me, I wanna know all of you, sweetheart.”

“I wasn’t born in the US. I was born in France.”

“You one of _those_ French girls then. I’d love to have you bare on my sheets, trying to make your beauty justice on paper”.

“Are you referencing Titanic with the drawing?”

“Kind of, yeah. It’d be fun, darling. I’ve had a few dreams about that, you, naked on dark red sheets, all pale skins and my pearls.”

She laughed.

“Your pearls?”

“The ones you gave me. It was a gift, yeah? They’ve starred in a lot of my fantasies, too. You, wearing them, nothing else. Tell me more.”

“My father was French. My mother is a historian. American. They met on a library, love at first sight. We traveled a lot for father’s job, so I always was immersed in lot of cultures, didn’t have allegiance to such things as borders.”

“Something tells me you had allegiance to very little things.”

She smiled. _I have to you, now. My kids and family. Haven’t had any other for a long while._

“Maybe. Got to live in a lot of places. I had a different breeding, I guess. My uncle used to teach me a lot of things and I was mostly homeschooled, because of the traveling. I got to choose what I wanted to focus on. By the time I went to college I spoke a lot of languages, knew a lot of things, about everywhere.”

“Sounds like _el paraíso.”_

 _“No tienes idea, Señor_ Castillo.”

“I take it Spanish was one of them.

“Kind of yeah. Not my best, but I always liked it. I lived in Russia and Germany, then Spain, Egypt. A lot of other places, but I spent most of the time in those. Then I came to the States and went to Yale and then back to Europe.”

“You are the most interesting woman I’ve ever met. To me you’re a open book that’s constantly being rewritten, as if you can’t decide what you are.”

Damn this man.

“Your turn, tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Your family, maybe. Your parents… Are they still alive?”

“Yeah, my father, Antonio, was born here in the US, son of a Colombian drug dealer and a rich girl from California. They ran away, got here, where his parents lived. When Grandpa died, his organization was growing, so my dad took over. My mother, Rosa was born in Mexico, came here with her family. Got three siblings. I’m the oldest and then there is Carmen a few years after and then came the twins, Veronica and Fernando.”

“A big family.”

“Oh yeah, my mother has a brother and my father has a sister that lived with us, never got married, helped Mami raise the twins, _niños endemoniados_. We also had _mi madrina_ , Gloria, and her kids. Her son, Diego, well, he’s like a brother. You don’t know him, but he’s my right-hand man.”

She remembers something about him, maybe it was around the time of the Fine & Frugal bit.

The food got there, and they ate calmly talking to each other, about more trivial stuff.

“You inherited the business?”

“Yes, but not quite. It’s complicated shit- My father didn’t want to get involved in cartel business, he had no talent for being subordinate, he also didn’t like getting involved with drugs, and specially drug lords, so he shifted his game. Got an organized crime of sorts, a gang, involved in all kind of “helping” acts for the cartel, like a private contractor. He was kind of tired of it. I started working with him when I was 15, learning the ropes, so when Diego and I were almost eighteen, we- well, shit, we took over. It got further than payed jobs.”

“You built an empire.”

“Yeah. By the time I was getting unwanted attention by the cartels, I was too big. I owned people too high up and too powerful within the city crime organizations. Out of it, too. Got all the way to New York and up there in Canada. My main business being known as something like a fixer. I fixed things that no one could. Knew too much about cartel lords and businessmen, the two sides, wanting to kill me, the everyday criminals and the nocturnal ones.”

“Like what, exactly?”

“Thing of me as the Kingpin. Anyone who wants to cross to the illegal in this city bounds, has to answer to me. You can be a corrupt politician or a dirty law enforcer. Businessmen, lowlife criminals, anyone. It passes through me. I have my dealings and all the dealings are mine, if you want to do things not in my way, you’re not doing it here.”

He talked with such easiness, pride and just full-on power, that she was almost trembling. She never felt more turned on in her life.

“So the money laundering?”

“Pocket money, adrenaline high. Your little stunt? Both, really. It was just damage control, I’m no king if not ruthless, I told you that.”

“You handle all types of crime?”

“Organized, yes. But even I have some problems. I won’t deal directly with drugs, it’s too messy, not worth the trouble by now. The members of my gang, they don’t do that. They can supervise and run the guys that deal, but it’s not something that its worth. I don’t get involved publicly with politics. I won’t do hate crimes, deal with prostitution or the black market involving any kind of deals with people. Organs, women, child and the likes.”

She handled with a lot of people that did. They were in a whole other level of fucked up, soulless. Complete bastards, usually masochists who liked to watch people suffer.

Nothing like Rio.

Ophelia used to tell her they were one lab accident away from super villains, that they sustained morals of goodness, but they weren’t lawful, they were chaotic. They thrived in the suffering of those who deserved.

Or that the organization said it did.

Beth wasn’t stupid, she knew that they worked on stopping events that would influence on powerful people. Usually, they combated the ones perceived as bad guys for being outside the law imposed by society. On the first years of that, she never questioned it.

A few years in she thought about everything. They were an independent agency that usually maintained balance, but they were hire for pay, usually by governments. Who knew the true intentions of those who were powerful enough to be able to hire them? They were overall good intenders, but not everyone she killed or ruined was completely guilty, or innocent.

She worked on a grey area, but mostly she didn’t care. She had her morals and her dos and don’ts, but she wasn’t a hero. Like Natalia used to tell them, they were incognitos, variables. They were antiheros, neutral players.

“My product is power and that’s what I manage. And I just told you that, Elizabeth, because that’s nothing. Just the surface. Betray me again and there will be no running away. You could go all the way to Siberia, and I would find you. Just a final warning, in case you are wondering if it’s worth it to just try and run from me. Don’t think that just because you’re special-“.

“Shut up” she said, too turned on and in need that she couldn’t think straight. With one of her shoes off, she traced his leg up with her foot, making him freeze suddenly. “Just a small token, until tomorrow.”

“Elizabeth, I thought I’d told-“ He didn’t even finish because she was pressing against his thigh, dangerously near the obvious erection he had now. Her eyes were full of mischief and she was biting her lip.

“I know it’s _hard_ to fathom that I actually didn’t realize what I was doing until, well- everything went to shit. It’s a new territory for me, Rio. I want you to trust me again and I have no intention of ever betraying you. I’m yours, if you’ll have me.”

He groaned. This woman would be the end of him. People couldn’t know. He never had anyone that people could hurt, and it would make him do anything to stop that. Yes, his family, but they were in that life, they were in the middle, they knew what they were a part of. His sisters could handle themselves against any men and his brother was under his wig since very young.

But Elizabeth, she was… Broken. And she wasn’t from this world and she wasn’t inside his empire. He couldn’t protect her from everything. No one could know how he really felt. How he could let his world crumble and not even flinch just to keep her safe.

He also knew that he wouldn’t kill her even if she sold him out right in front of him, destroyed his empire, ruined him.

When her hand gripped his and her eyes burned, the sole of her foot pressing against his zipper, desire written all over her features, he thought he would die if he didn’t have her at that moment.

“Elizabeth, c’mon.”

“I’m going to go to the restroom. You should follow me.” And just like that she got up and left, walking expertly on those heels, hips moving. She looked at him over her shoulder before leaving.

Shit.

The minute he decided everything be damned, he would fuck her today and worry about the consequences and punishments tomorrow, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Good evening, Mr. Castillo.”

Fucking bastard.

“Turner.”

“That was a very nice girl you got yourself. How much did you offer a woman like her, classy and amazing, to get on with you?”

If only he could get the knife and plunge it on his eye.

“What do you want?”

“Oh, I want lots of things. For now, I want to finally get you on my interrogation room for hours, so I can do to you everything I’ve wanted since forever. She’s too much for you, Castillo. That woman, she needs a good man, that can give her good things and not a dead-end criminal like you.

He scuffs.

“What the fuck do you know about her? Elizabeth don’t need no men to give her what she needs, she’s a fucking goddess, and that’s why you probably ain’t never having a woman like her with your sorry ass, yeah?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, you know. She’s been looking for someone worth it, after that husband of hers. Getting you as a rebound for a relationship that lasted this long. I’d love if that woman actually proves to be your undoing.”

How did he know about that?  

_He’s been following her for a while, you know this. He’s trying to get you angry, trying to make you doubt her. That bastard wants your demise, but he would be stupid not to covet a woman like her._

_Specially if he knows she means something. To take her away from you, it would be just the cherry on top._

“Car man sure is stupid. But I ain’t. Gotta appreciate a woman like that, and I’ll make sure to do just that, so you best stay out of my fucking way, yeah?”

Turner smiled and left to go back to his stooges.

From Diego: _Shit, man. The boys just called, I’m coming to get you. We better get to the house. Code Rosa._

Oh shit.

“Did something happen?” he heard her before looking up and seeing Elizabeth, worry in her eyes.

“Just a chat with our dear friend. Elizabeth, I’d love nothing more than make you mine, finally. But you ain’t deserving just yet and I have things to handle. Better show up tomorrow and you might just as well be rewarded, yeah?”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing to worry your pretty head about. I’ll see you, darling. Everything is settling here, just go home and get your shit together and whatnot. No reason to keep denying us the release we both deserve.”

She looked at him, a little apprehensive.

“Don’t think for a second I won’t be thinking of you the whole time until we meet again, Elizabeth.”

With that he left to deal with his mother.

Diego was waiting for him in front of the hotel, talking to someone.

Turner.

“Didn’t I already told you to fuck off, Jimmy?”

The guy smiled.

“Just updating your boy here on your situation. Thought he should know you’ll be ruining your lives over pussy.”

Arrogant little shit. Little did he know Diego was meddling in his dance with Elizabeth for months.

He looked at him, smug.

“Wouldn’t be the worst way to go, Agent. Now excuse us, we have more important things to do than chat with irrelevance.”

With that, he circled back the car and got in the passenger seat. Rio sometimes asked himself what he did to deserve Diego.

“Good luck with your endeavors, Agent Turner. Make sure to call your family up in Baltimore, yeah? I’m sure they miss you.” He said, getting behind the wheel.

It was thirty seconds before Diego spoke.  

“That guy’s a prick.”

“Ain’t that the truth? Shit, man, what did you tell Mami?”

“I didn’t tell _madrina_ anything. She worries and half of those boys work more for her than for us. Idiots blabbed a little too much near your brother, you know the kid can’t keep his mouth shut to _madre_.”

“Fucking mama’s boy.”

“Aren’t we all? Overbearing Latina mothers, man. The only reason we probably didn’t die yet. Anyways, she knows about prison.”

“It was on TV.”

“Carmen and Toni managed to keep away from the other three little worriers, you know how that goes. Shit, now that _madrina_ knows, my mother will probably hear about it too. Thought she wouldn’t, visiting her sister back in Mexico.”

Well, fuck.

“What did Turner say to you?”

“You pissed with him about her, right? Rio, man, you have to keep it cool, yeah? Damn, that’s what she knows too. About _her_.”

Oh, he’s gonna kill Fernando. He was sick of dealing with stupid people. That ass Agent Turner was so fucking annoying, going everywhere Rio went. And he also had the nerve to talk about Elizabeth to him. His lawyers better get the charges lift soon, because if the guy talks about his woman like that one more time, he’s gonna kill him.

And he knows that he was just trying to get a reaction out of him, because to him, Elizabeth was just a one-night stand turned mistress, like she said.

Unless she went to him again, wasn’t telling him the whole truth.

No, she wouldn’t betray him one more time, after all they said. And Turner didn’t have a way to know what she meant to him. He wasn’t sure even she knew that much.

He was getting sick of having this woman controlling his life even being nowhere near him.

“Man, you better cool down a bit, you going to kill us driving this way. You are almost destroying the steering wheel.” Diego said. “The guy was bluffing, man. He knows that he needs more to get us in prison.”

“He’s just so damn smug, that son of a bitch. Shit.” That woman, he swears. She’s fucking hell on Earth, man.

“You mad because he talked about that damn read headed housewife of yours. I know you too long, Rio. She’s a suburban white mom, c’mon. Of course, she would go to him, she’s scared. The week is almost up, and she’s probably doesn’t know what to do. She’s just protecting herself from you.”

Yeah, time’s almost over. And Elizabeth didn’t look that sure of herself at dinner. She sounded loyal, sure. Tried to seduce him, as well. But he can’t trust her intentions until he knows why she did that.

Or maybe he had to just accept that she doesn’t want him that much and she’s probably just using this to get away from him.

There are times he’s so sure, though. He feels like he knows all about that woman. And he knows everything he feels is returned.

And then everything changes about her. She’s suddenly someone else entirely.

Shit. There’s no way to win. He was sure just minutes ago that by the end of the night he would be fucking her against the wall, beginning her punishment too. He could love everything about her, but he wasn’t one to forgive that easily.

But twenty-four hours straight on his bed would be an amazing beginning.

And now, he’s not so sure anymore.  

“I just- I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but I know one thing, man. I can’t kill her. You’ll do it, yeah?”

“Hell no, man. You ain’t killing her, you goin’ regret it. Just talk to her, you letting that guy control you, letting everything he said cloud your judgement, man. No one knows the truth, but us. Now, we deal with _huracán_ Rosa. Then you go home, take a cold shower or something to relieve yourself from that tension. Maybe call Daniella, huh?”

Rio glares at him.

“You are too gone for that woman, man. Maybe getting laid tonight would help you clear your head of any bias you might have for tomorrow.”

There’s no way that he’ll put himself through that fucking craziness again. Damn, Dani was a good fence and business handler, but he wasn’t going to get himself in that mess ever again.

He wanted Elizabeth. Just her. He knew that as he did damn well try to fuck her away from her mind after prison. It wouldn’t work though.

But she betrayed him, and maybe she had no reason and now he was probably going to jail. Fuck.

“Whatever, let’s just handle Mama, yeah?”

He stopped the car abruptly on the street, looking at his building. God, he can’t stop thinking about that fucking woman. She owns him.

“And I guess I should park the car a little better too, huh?” Diego yelled after him and he flipped him the bird.

Well, mama, here we go.

 

-

 

After Rio left her, she got a message from Miguel, confirming their meeting. Finally, she needed the advice.

Getting off the hotel, she drove to his house. Annie was in the process of moving there, but she was at Beth’s today.

Parking just outside Miguel’s old building, Beth felt nostalgic. He still lived there even after Annie got out of the house and her mom… lost herself. She had good memories of this place, Miguel was always helping her deal with the loss of her father and uncle, and her transition to her new life as Beth.

When she answered his message, saying that she was indeed in need of a good talk, saying that she might be in some trouble, he answered just like she needed.

From Miguel _: Meet me at the apartment in 15. Do I have to wait with some bourbon?”_

To Miguel: _You know me so well._

Miguel was a Godsend friend to her mother. He was a grad student, son of immigrants, leaving in the US since infancy. He befriended her mother in one of the summers they spent in Detroit, when Beth was still a child. He was just working on his masters. By the time Beth was in college he was already finished with his doctorate and was working in academic research, planning to be a professor. Right after the fake-divorce between her parents, he received a letter about his VISA and how he couldn’t stay in the US at least whilst applying for another.

Her mother then proposed they get married. She needed to pretend she moved on with her life, so it worked perfectly for them. Miguel had no romantic interest in her whatsoever, shared the same passions (history and art) and they’ve been friends for a long time.

He was by her mother’s side through everything. Her father’s passing, uncle Steve’ disappearance, Annie’s rebellious phase and subsequent pregnancy, Beth’s early meltdowns in the first years trying to be normal. He was the person in her life that knew the most about her old life, being incredibly intelligent and tuned to the world around him.

When she became involved with crime and Rio, she kind of stopped their regular calls and weekly lunch. No need for him to know, it was an temporary thing, and him being from very neighborhoods that carries those gangs and crime organizations, she was kind of scared that he would know too much and discourage her.

When she arrived in his floor, she could hear the Brazilian _bossa nova_ playing in his old record player. His mother was from there, so he would tell her a lot about the culture, and she loved it. She didn’t live with her family there, because she was in college, but she would always visit. She learned Portuguese with ease, having root in Latin languages she knew like French, Spanish and a little Italian. She had the keys, so she let herself in and saw him, engrossed in a book (Brazilian too, if she could muster from the title).

“Hola, Miguel.” He looked up from the book, smiled, took off his glasses and then closed the book.

“Liz” he was the only one that could call her that without resulting in a catastrophe. It was so close to her daddy’s nickname for her, she freaked out a little when people used it. “I’m sorry, Beth.” When he apologized, she realizes she was crying.

“No, no. Those are happy tears, I guess. Not happy, just- _Saudades_ ” she said in Portuguese. It was fitting, she loved to talk in Portuguese with him, just like she loved to just chat in French with her father. And there were no words in English that would explain what she was feeling. She was missing her father, sad because of him being gone, but happy to have been able to know him. Happy to remember him by.

That word was engraved in his grave.

 _Saudades_.

“It’s been a while, Liz.”

“Well, life got in the way a little. I’m divorcing Dean.” She decided to start with that. She was going to tell him when he did a quick drop at Kenny’ birthday, but there was no time and then Dean invented the cancer.

“Annie told me. About time that happened. You never loved him. I always thought you married him to please your mother, as a way of saying _, I’m not going anywhere, I won’t be a diplomat like Henry, or get myself killed overseas._ ”

“Yeah, it was kind of like that. Just easy, I guess. Got me my babies though” she sat in the arm of his chair and leaned a little. He was the closest she had to a father figure now. No, a _parental_ figure. She still needed guidance, and there was no one else that could give her. Specially her mother. 

“Never thought you’d drown your light away.” He said. “You’ve became so dim, Liz.

“Miguel- “.

“You were too special for a guy like him, Liz. With no ambitions, no respect. I know being a lawyer wasn’t you first choice, but even then-”

“Well, it’s too late now.”

“No, never. You have a very brilliant path ahead of you. Annie also said you are thinking about going back to the law. Never knew why you quit as an associate at that firm.”

“Well, it wasn’t my dream anyways, so I decided that being a mom would be a priority. It had nothing to do with Dean.” That was a lie. It was a little bit. He just didn’t support her, but never actually held her back. She decided on her own, too depressed to deal with a job that wasn’t quite what she loved, to create a picture of a perfect family life. She’d rather spend time with those she loved.

“Very well. And you did a very good job. You know I’m a little biased, but you raised them so well. They are so close to each other, respectful. Goodhearted. Artistic and academic kids speaking multiple languages since birth, you put a little of yourself in them, my dear. How are they?”

“Kenny likes languages too much to arrange space for math. Jane mastered the piano already, so she wants the cello now.  Really, I blame Annie with that fucking story, Jane really wants to follow my steps, it’s endearing, really. Danny wants to be called Daniel now and is very addicted to poetry, you know, he is mother’s favorite and all, she used to read to him a lot, you remember.”

“Elizabeth, your mother-“.

“No, Miguel. Just, no. Emma was just speaking Spanish this week. I think she misses you.” She changed the subject. He respected her.

“Is that why you called? Want me to take them for a bit? While you settle through your divorce?”

“That would be nice, but I also need help. You know, with the story I told you over the phone. I guess I just need some reassurance, that I am doing the right thing.”

“With what?”

“You were raised in one of those neighborhoods that had a lot of gang activity, right?” She asked instead.

“You know that I did. I don’t know what that has to do with anything. Are you planning on going there for some project or something? Or you’re just curious about my childhood?” he laughed.

“I want to ask for advice on how to handle something. When you lived there, were there gangs running around, linked or not with the Mexican cartels and these kind of organized crimes and entities?”

“I knew it. When Annie didn’t ask us for money with her problems with Sadie’s custody, I knew something was up. How much do you owe them? Which gang it is? What are you involved with? Drugs? Weaponry?” He pinched his nose and arranged his glasses, sounding tired. “I thought you were supposed to be smarter than this, Liz. Annie is a little crazy and totally reckless about those things, but you- why didn’t you come to me before?”

“I know, Miguel, it was stupid, but I needed it. It’s difficult to explain and that’s not even the problem, it’s much deeper than that.”

“Tell me what happened, how-“.

“We robbed Fine & Frugal, you know.” Miguel’s surprised face came earlier than she expected. He looked almost curious, as if thinking about something.

“Last week?”. He must have seen the news about Rio’s arrest. Great.

“No, months ago. Well, I don’t know which gang, and I haven’t seen anything drug or gun-related. I don’t want to involve you too much. I just, I screwed up. We had to do things for them in exchange of the money but asked for more. Not just for the money, and I really fucked up.”

“How?” He was analyzing her so closely, she felt nervous. She doesn’t want to disappoint him too much.

“I kind of fallen for the leader and toyed with him a little bit to get back at him and also steal his attention. Used the second heist to do it, out of bruised ego, sadness and I don’t know. I don’t know how to handle love. I really fucked up to get revenge and then he came for me.”

“What?”

“I got him arrested. He didn’t love that. Got out really quickly, came for me, we had words.”

“Elizabeth! You got a gang leader arrested? And you fell in love with him? In what order? It’s not important. Explain this better, please.”

“I-I was working for him. I needed the cash, I was gonna lose the house and I needed- We laundered money for him. But we fought, and he set me free, but I wanted- I wanted to get his attention, so I implicated him a bit, with the FBI and such. Got him arrested. He beat Dean up and gave me a week to plea my case and I need an excuse. But I don’t want him to know the truth yet, I’m scared.”

“Of all the crazy things I saw you doing since I’ve known you, Elizabeth, that was- God! And you worked for some freaky police agency.”

“I thought it was for the thrill, but I- I kind of love him a bit. Like a lightning bolt, I- He is my Siena, my heart aches for him and he is all I can think about. I never loved anyone this way, Miguel. Uncle was right, we fall hard and fast and once we do, he’s it. My one and only. You know I never desired anyone, but I want him.”

“Oh, Elizabeth, please tell me his name is not Pablo nor Luís.” Miguel was laughing a little.

“No, I think his name is Rio, I didn’t even know if it was his real name, but I thought- I guess. It is. It suits him too much not to be. Also, I got some research done”.

Miguel looked at her.

“ _You_ got him arrested?” He asked, a little uneasy. “I- I just meant, I saw the news and- Elizabeth, how did you get mixed with him? What are you going to do?”

“I need your help, remember? I didn’t know until something you said, so I guess you might as well just know. I’m breaking into the FBI tomorrow.”

If she didn’t know Miguel well enough, she would’ve missed the look of total shock that passed through his eyes for a second.

“And that’s pretty much decided, so nothing I’ll say will make you change your mind?”

“No. And nothing will happen, I have everything pretty much figured it out.”

 

-

 

Mama wouldn’t stop talking. Fernando had the decency to look embarrassed and sorry. Veronica was just fueling their mother’s rants. Carmen and his father were just annoyed that was happening after all the trouble they went trying to keep this from Rosa.

“What happened? How could you be so reckless? Racketeering charges? From a grocery story robbery? Jesus, _mi hijo_ , you were so irresponsible. How did they get your name?”

A certain someone left it there, in a fucking letter. But he can’t tell his mother that, because he planned on having this someone with him forever and Mama needed a good first impression.

“That doesn’t matter, Mami. Nothing will stick, my lawyers are almost done with that. It’s just that fucker Turner is very stubborn.”

“I say to your mama that you’re too smart to get caught, Rio. You’re too good and everyone is very loyal, but this happened very weirdly. You never had the chance to do that.”

“Let’s just say I’m handling it, it was some associates that wanted some revenge and leverage for protection, and they framed me. Nothing to worry about, you know I ain’t having it.”

“We told mom that you are smart enough, but she worries.”

“Carmen, _tu hermano tiene enemigos._ _Demasiados_. If you go to jail, Rio, they’ll try to kill you.”

“Calma, _madrina._ If Rio goes to jail, he’ll run the place in two weeks. But he’s not going to jail, I won’t let him. If the worse happens, we have plans for stuff like this.”

“Diego, you better not sacrifice yourself, your mother will die.”

“The hell he’s going to. Diego just likes the attention, I ain’t letting him pay for my mistakes, Mami. Don’t worry.”

“I just think you should get away from her” his sister told him. Damn you Diego, you twelve-year old girl that can’t stop the family gossip.

“Carmen, _cállate!_ ”

“Her? There is a her?”

“Mami, Carmen doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

“I’m very nervous, I don’t know everything, _mis hijos no me dicen nada_. I have to find out through Fernando that you went to jail.”

“You had to drill out of Fernando, _estúpido_. Mami worries too much about you, Rio. Fernando didn’t have the decency to tell her, he protects you too much.”

“Verónica, _por favor. Deja de hablar por por un momento. Carajo.”_

Fuck his life. He could have been with Elizabeth right now, but instead now he was watching his family argue in crescent Spanish about his so-called safety. Carmen was looking at him, worried and angry. Diego didn’t use all the opportunities he had to be quiet.

The craziness was only getting bigger, so at first, he didn’t hear the door opening.

“What’s happening in here?”

“ _Tío_ ” Rio said. “What are you doing here, weren’t you traveling for work or something?”

“I have to talk to you, Rio. About prison.”

“Oh, what’s happening? Something went wrong?” His mother was back to dramatically enhancing everything. “Rio is going to jail again?”

“Because of a stupid girl.”

“Carmen, _por favor_ -“ Diego said, worried about everything about Elizabeth coming to light now. He couldn’t catch a break.

“It’s about her that I want to talk about.” His uncle said, his demeanor serious, eyes furious.

That was odd. Diego and Rio looked at each other. How the fuck his uncle knew about her? Only Carmen and Fernando knew, because Diego couldn’t hold his alcohol or his tongue.

“ _Tío_ -“.

“You better not do anything to Elizabeth, son. I won’t allow you to harm her, nor she you, for that matter. You better resolve your problems peacefully, because I won’t let you break her heart or take advantage of her.”

What the fuck?

“How do you even know her, Miguel?” Carmen asked, confused and angry. Her uncle was defending this stupid suburban bitch who fucked her brother over.

“Well, life is a funny thing. Because not even for a second in my life I would have imagined that my nephew and step daughter would fall in love.”

What?

“Oh, I’ll be damned” Diego said, laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, tell me what you think yadda yadda yadda. I'm very insecure about this fic I don't know why.  
> Give me some ideas too. I have the next ones a little planned. Like the series *SPOILER* I'll deal with Boomer too, very soon. Him blackmailing Mary Pat into marrying him was disgusting. But she also is a lot dumber than I thought. But even then, I had planned this before. Mary Pat betraying them for Boomer. Never liked her, even though she's not a villain, but I guess this series makes you cheer for the actual criminals intead of the good law-abiding citizens. Oh, well. That's the real fun.  
> Hope you like it  
> x


	9. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I just want to know, Elizabeth. You look me in the eyes, you answer me honestly and all animosity goes out the window. Again. Why you did it?”  
> He looked at her, eyes full of lust, but somehow contained. He was fighting it and he wanted to know.  
> The problem was: she wasn’t ready to tell him. It was too much too fucking fast.  
> “I already told you. Partially. You told me to go home. I thought it was over, that I was too late, so I was petty and sent you to jail. Used the girls for it, Ruby’s money issue. I knew you wouldn’t kill me, I was mad, because you make me mad and I don’t like it. I also don’t like the idea of not having you. I’m sorry it took me this long.”  
> Shit.  
> “You gonna pay, Elizabeth, you hear me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh God. The sex scenes. It's been almost a decade (ok, like 6 years?) since I wrote a sex scene, specially a straight one.  
> The jury is still out on that one.  
> So, we are coming about all the relationship drama, I plan to end it soon (but not quite just yet). I love a slow build up, but I can't wait for them to be together for real and then the REAL DRAMA can make an appearance. They will work things out very well, I won't be doing too many clichés as much as I love them. Just this one on this chapter and I'll be done with the interferences.  
> I hope you enjoy. - xx

 

“What the fuck are you talking about, Miguel?”

“She’s Sienna’ daughter, Elizabeth. You’ve met her once, if I recall, a long time ago. When I was moving in. You might not remember, she was in college at the time, but you’ve met her sister.”

Oh, he remembered.

Fuck him.

Elizabeth. His Elizabeth. Elizabeth was Lizzie? The daughter of his uncle’s fake wife. The girl that Rio thought about for the greater portion of his teenage life. A lot. Repeatedly. The most beautiful girl he’d ever saw, one time to never again.

Or so he thought.

“How the hell is that possible?”

“You tell me, you didn’t recognize Annie? You’ve met her a lot.”

“She’s very different now.” Diego said for him. “I mean, I’ve never met the sister of the redhead, but the guys all say that she’s crazy. The Annie I remember from your wife, she was this shy little girl.”

Yeah, this smart and witty girl, that could read you like a book and tell you some truths. Hell, wasn’t she like, ten, eleven? Blonde and always with her knees scraped. Full of colorful band-aids.  

He remembered. The little girl grabbing his hand and placing him on the couch, trying to psychotherapy him, legs dangling, while she drew pictures and took notes of the things he told.

“Hell no.”

“ _Mírame_.” His mother screamed. “¿ _Podría alguien decirme de qué se trata, por favor_?”

“Rio seduced my step daughter, that’s what happened. And she seduced him. They’ve seduced each other and are now playing this dangerous game of who’s boss. I’ve known both of you for a long time, and I’m surprised I’ve never realized this would happen if you two met.”

“What?”

“Oh, Rio. Like she wasn’t exactly your type.” Diego mocked him. “Actually, like she wasn’t exactly the mold you designed yourself for future reference.”

“Diego is right, you know.”

“Then why the fuck you’ve never introduced me?”

“Well, for one, there’s a lot about her that you don’t understand, she wasn’t available, and I’ve never realized. She was in college when you interacted with the family and then she went to work with her uncle. When she came back, she was different and got married.”

“To that piece of shit husband of hers. How-“. _Awful._ Car-man was awful. Undignified of a woman like her.

It makes sense though. She said her father was always traveling. Sienna’s ex husband was a diplomat. He also was killed a long time ago, he had talked to him once, in the beginning. And then his tío was ostracized from their family and they parted ways for a bit.

“ _Oh, estoy perdida_. Rio, _hijo, por favor_. Miguel, what’s happening?”

Rio looked at him, begging for him to not tell anything else.

“Apparently, _madrina_ , Rio’s in love with Miguel’s step daughter and they are both stubborn idiots who suck at communicating.”

“That sums it up nicely, Diego.”

“Your step-daughter tried to send Rio to jail?”

“Carmen, shut up.” Rio said. And people said he was the impetuous one. How could everything get so out of his hands in so little time. “She- _mierda._ ”

There was no way to explain. Actually, he didn’t know if that wasn’t true. Elizabeth could be planning his fall with Turner right know.

Except, he knew she wasn’t. He could feel she wasn’t.  

“She’s fixing it, though. Rio gave her until tomorrow. I don’t even want to know how she’s gonna do it. I was betting on she trying to run away, so I was very surprised she asked Rio out today to talk.”

“She’s fixing it, alright.” Miguel said. “And no, Rio, I’m not in liberty to say how.”

“Is she doing anything stupid? Like giving herself over to that bastard?”

He needed to know. Elizabeth always did the stupid thing.

“Of course she’s doing something stupid. She’s the perfect woman for you. However, nothing she can’t handle it. I just- I came here to warn you, because that girl went through a lot of bad stuff in her lifetime, so I don’t want you to hurt her, specially now that she’s finally getting better, being herself again.”

“C’mon. Could you guys please try and summarize everything? You all are talking only with each other. Rio, you have to talk to your mother.” Antonio asked, holding Rosa who looked like she wanted to scream at them all.

“Housewife and friends robbed us. Rio went after her, wanting the money back and fell in love and started playing some sick game with her whilst they worked for us to pay their debt. Then the sexual tension exploded, and they fought, girl got Rio in jail, he went after her and apparently that was the game all along. And now she has a week to fix it and that ends tomorrow. How is the level of fixing she’s gonna do?”

“If everything goes right, I’m assuming it’ll be handled.”

“So, Elizabeth talked about me?” He asked, because of course, the woman robbed him and then try to throw him in prison, and he was still asking after her like a lovesick puppy or something.

“She wanted my help on how to fix it. Said she had betrayed someone she cared about.”

“And she said to you what she’s gonna do?” His uncle nodded. “And she’ll be fine?” 

“Yes. She’s no ordinary suburban housewife, you should know that. She’s so much more, I hope you realize.”

“Oh, I do, uncle.”

_She’s everything._

 

-

 

Beth was waiting for Jim Turner just outside the FBI building. She was very anxious. Everything was going according to plan, but she had to ace this last part. All the info was in her car right now, in the FBI building. She had just finished the transfer. All she needed was to wait for Jim Turner, talk to him, lie her ass off and go to him.

Rio.

And then, finally, they would clash, they would- be true to themselves. All she ever wanted since the moment he surprised her and all her normal instincts in her house, where he made her pulse quicken for unorthodox reasons. Where he made her cry of fear even though all she felt was the adrenaline controlling her body once again.

Jim was the last pawn of the game, she would check mate it and then come back to protect _her king._

The agent was walking towards her, meeting her on the front.

“Mrs. Boland, how are you?”

“A little better after our call, Agent Turner. I saw you talked to him at the restaurant, I just hope you don’t put yourself in excessive danger.”

“Please, call me Jim.” He said when they entered the elevator.

“Jim.” She whispered, tentatively. Batted her eyelashes a bit and looked at him with hooded eyes. “I- I…”

“So, Mr. Castillo went after you.”

“Yeah- yes.”

“You also said you two resumed your affair, for how long? When did that happen? You two looked pretty damn familiar with each other yesterday.”

“I- few weeks after I talked to you, he came to me, I called him, I was so angry with Dean and I just needed- I wanted to get back at him, so I called Rio. I don’t usually sleep with strangers, but at least I already knew him, and he never was nothing but nice to me, I was a little giddy, a lot nervous too.”

“It was more than once?”

“Yes, he actually convinced me to try something more- long-term, but casual. Worked for both of us. Dean was working and sleeping at our son’s room, we were separated, I hadn’t forgiven him yet.”

“I see. You would meet up at your house?”

“Yes, my house or somewhere desert, he would text me an address and I would drive there, so the neighbors wouldn’t talk.”

They got to his floor and he guided her to his office, shutting the door.

“He never talked to you about work?”

“I-No, we-“ Beth made sure she blushed and didn’t make eye-contact with Turner, she had to sell sweet little housewife. “We didn’t talk much, it was just physical, for us.”

“Alright. And why you decided to call me?”

“My husband was in the hospital and I saw the news. Later, when I went home, he was there. He was pissed, like I never saw him before, he started talking about betrayal and he said he knew I went to see you, he thought I said anything, he was really angry, and I was so scared.” Beth was almost crying now, she needed to sell it, she needed to appear scared of Rio, so Turner couldn’t suspect that it was her that broke into his office and got rid of the files.

“Calm down, Mrs. Boland. I’ll get you a glass of water.”

“He was armed. I had seen him with a gun before, but never so- on display, I guess. Like he was trying to prove something. Make sure I knew who he really was, and he started to talk about his business, the stuff I wanted to tell you.”

“What?”

“He said I better not have talked to you about his business and that he would need to show up in this benefit and make nice with everyone, that I needed to help him clean up his image.”

“Benefit?”

“Yes, this Saturday. He’s going, probably to assure everyone he works with that he’s back on top, like he said. That they have nothing to worry. Also, to assert his dominance. He said that this stuff is mediaeval, he has to make sure everyone respects and fears him.”

“I have been working with the possibility that his empire being a lot bigger than what it looks like. He runs a gang, but, in reality, he carries himself like the leader of a very complex organization. You better not see him again, Beth.”

“I’m afraid I can’t just do that, I-“.

“I will protect you, I’m very close to-“.

Someone lightly knocked on the door, but only as a warning, as it was opened immediately after.

“Jim- Oh, I didn’t see you were in a meeting. Uh, can I talk to you?” A beautiful blond woman was on the door, nervous. Turner hasn’t happy. Elizabeth knew her, she was at the restaurant yesterday. One of the agents.

“I’m in the middle of a very important-“.

“It’s about the Castillo case, it’s an emergency.”

Turner looked pissed off, but the minute the girl said Rio’s name he appeared more relaxed, like he was so sure there he was about to receive good news.

Beth maintained her poker face. _Oh, Jim, little do you know your case just got busted, you’re starting over._

“Ms. Andersen-“.

“Sir, it’s very important.”

“Mrs. Boland, if you excuse me, for a moment. I better check what they want, the case is very busy, I’ll be right back.” He said, exiting the office and going into the corridor with the young agent. He closed the door, but Beth could hear through the bug she had placed it outside his office.

“This better be important, Andersen, I have Castillo’ mistress in there. She was telling be some very good info on him.”

“Sir, I was looking for some info on his partner, Diego, and I couldn’t find anything. So I called the IT guy and he looked through the system and nothing came out. All the data we had on him, gone.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“All the Castillo intel, gone. Everything. We’ve been hacked, Sir.”

“When did this happened?”

“By the looks of it, maybe three, two hours ago?”

“How did this happen? Did you track the invader? Are there any traces? Who did this? Locate the IP address, now.”

“We did, sir. It was from here, they used a computer here in the bureau. The person was here.”

“Shit, how-“.

“Sir, there’s more. All of the Castillo files, all the dossier, all the info we’ve been gathering is gone.”

“How is that possible? This is not amateur hour! Who was responsible to checking this info, who was looking after the file room?”

“Thomas, sir. He said nobody passed through him without ID, only personnel linked with the case, even the Interpol agent that-.”

“What Interpol agent?”

“Agent Wright, sir. She checked out on the system, assigned to the case, said she had busted one of his guys with drugs overseas, needed the intel, it was her jurisdiction. Agent Thomas said she went in with some of her files and stayed there a bit and then off she went.”

“Was it within the hacking time frame?”

“He said she left before, the system bugged, by an hour or so. Sir, what do we do now?”

“Did we send the updated dossier to the Detroit PD team?”

“No, sir. You said you wanted to add some things.

“I might have it in my computer in the office.”

“Sir, all the files are gone, you may need to check your computer.”

“Look, back-up everything, trace this hacker, locate the agent, call the Interpol, everything. We had him, Andersen. How could no one notice someone barge in here and destroy our evidence. I’m going after this son of a bitch. We had him. Tell Thomas to relive everything that happened, I want a play-by-play stat.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And now I have to go back to the meeting with the fucking mistress and ask her to come back later, because my team is incompetent, and they lost all the fucking case. I want answers. Now!”

The moment Turner came back, Beth looked at him, worried eyes and scared demeanor.

“Jim, did something happen? You were yelling. Is it Rio? Did he do something? Oh, my God. What is going on?”

“Nothing, Mrs. Boland. We are having some technical issues and I have to go there and fix this. I’ll contact you when this is over.”

“Oh, that’s fine.”

“But, please, if he shows up at your door, tell me. I’ll send someone to help you, don’t worry.” He offered her a card, it had a number on it, probably a more direct approach to him.

“Thank you so much, Jim.”

Beth left his office and got the bug with her. So everything ran smoothly. She had successfully broken into the FBI and robbed all the files, erased their archives and remediate her mistakes.

They were currently sitting at the back of her van. She just needed to get away from the building and drive to Rio, to show him that she would be by his side no matter what.

 

-

 

He was just waiting for Elizabeth at the meeting point. He had text her the place hours ago. It was at a bar where most of his crew usually frequented, it was their turf and they usually could hide in plain sight here. They had offices at the back and down the basements. She was late.

“What time is it, Diego?”

“Just add 5 minutes since the last time you asked.”

 Where the fuck was she? Miguel had said she cared, so she should be here. He said where she would find him, the time of their meeting, everything. She was almost an hour late.

“Rio, man. I don’t think she’s coming right know, maybe something went wrong. This is our turf, maybe she’s scared.”

“Maybe that son of a bitch Turner got to her, played the nice suit and convinced her that getting into bed with me ain’t what a good girl should do.”

“She might be a good girl, but that ain’t the biblical truth anymore for people, _cabrón._ Nobody is black or white, she’s not an innocent pawn that you move around, she makes her own decisions. And you always said she was full of fire and shit.”

“Elizabeth ain’t the average suburban housewife, but she is one. With neighbors and whatnot, perfect kids and a dog. The fucking ordinary husband. Maybe she thought this was too much, how she goin’ explain to everyone she’s shacking up with a gang leader.”

“I don’t know shit about that. But this isn’t about your weird mating dance, it’s about proving herself to you, yeah? She owes you, sex vibes or not.”

“She ain’t coming, Diego.”

He shot back the tequila on his glass. That woman would always make a fool out of him. Miguel said she was handling it. Doing something stupid.

What if something had happened to her?

He felt himself tense up.

“Oh shit, Rio-“

“Castillo!” he heard someone call for him and he knew exactly who that was. Hell, Turner was back.

He looked pissed. Coming at them like a bull, destroying everything in his path.

No.

Maybe something did happen? Maybe this fucking asshole did something to Elizabeth. He knew her, he coveted her. He knew she was with him.

Damn, fed or not, Rio would kill him if he had touched a single hair in Elizabeth’s head.

Diego was sensing his building anger, so he intercepted Turner and dragged him away a little bit.

“What the fuck you doin’ here, Jimmy.”

“I will end you, Castillo. You better know that. Don’t think that with what you did tonight you are going to walk. I will see you to jail myself, watch you rot in there for a while, brought down by a woman.”

“You been trippin’, Turner?”

“As if I didn’t know about your lady friend and the way you look at her. She’s a white suburban bitch, Castillo. She’ll betray you as fast as I can say _plea deal.”_

“You better stop-“. Diego warned him.

“Talk about Elizabeth this way again and I’mma rip that smile off your face.”

Turner smirked at him.

“I’m going to destroy you, Castillo. With the help of your little mistress. You really messed up now, falling in love. Who would’ve thought that the great Rio Castillo would’ve been brought to his knees by a soccer mom.”

Did she talk to him?

Diego was looking at him, almost like he could read his thoughts. Saying to him that he better not touch Turner and keep his cool.

But Elizabeth wasn’t here, and Turner was smiling.

Then again, he remembered what she had said the other time he looked for her. He had his contacts and heard the conversation.

Listening to her describing their brief encounter to Turner turned him on so much, he had to take matter to his own hands and two freezing showers that night.

“How long we know each other, agent? You been spitting threats at me and mine for ages and you never did shit. You all talk, no action. And I know Elizabeth ain’t the talk kinda girl. I ain’t worried.”

“Oh yeah? Keeping bringing guns to her house and she’ll run right into my arms, scared. She’s a pretty lady, I won’t be denying her some comfort.”

He was seeing red. Turner couldn’t have Elizabeth. She was too good for him. Also, she was his. Right from the fucking moment he saw her at her kitchen. Hell, right from the fucking moment he saw her at Miguel’s place all those years ago.

“Your man know you saying these shit about my woman? That you been coveting her from me. I’mma say it only once, so I hope it sticks. Stay away from Elizabeth, Jimmy. You ain’t gonna like what happens if I see you been bothering her.”

The look Turner gave him suggested it wasn’t sticking. That he was going to press this matter until one of them lashed out.

Rio wasn’t opposed to that. If he continued to bother his girl, he would give him what he deserved. Betrayal be damned. Elizabeth had him at the palm of her hand.

“She’s the one coming to me, Castillo. You haven’t been keeping your woman that happy lately. See you soon.” He said and got away from Diego and left the bar.

“That man is an idiot.”

“I’m out of here.”

“Rio, she’s probably just late. Remember what Miguel said.”

“I’m tired of waiting for her, of doing things I would never just to keep that woman happy. Any other acting like her would be dead by now.”

“But here’s the thing. She’s not like just any other.”

“If she shows up, tell her to go home, get away, I don’t give a fuck. Just end everything. Make it clear we ain’t killing her too, bitch may try to put us in jail again. Just- game over.”

“ _También eres un idiota._ ”

Rio didn’t bother with an answer. He was tired and beyond frustrated. That woman had bewitched his very being. Everything was about her, she was everywhere. In his mind, in his business, in his problems. In his fucking heart.

How? He had no fucking clue, it was like a car crash coming from nowhere or a fucking lightning bolt or something. Those beautiful blue eyes and pale skin, the fire that came from her. Everything had him on his knees for her.

He got to his car and made his way home quickly. All he wanted was to get wasted and maybe even call one of his old _friends_. Probably Elena. She was the one who could really understand “no strings attached”.

Entering the garage and leaving his car, he could hear his neighbor calling to him. He didn’t even answer. He just went straight to the elevator and hit the penthouse button.

The plans of fucking her off his mind were already going away as her face dominated his thoughts. Shit. _Just get away._

Fuck. If that witch hadn’t put a spell on him, he would probably problem-free and not sex-starved. It’s been too fucking long. Of course, he was trying to forget about that crazy, infuriating woman since she had thrown the damn keys at his face, but ever since their revealing little chat at her house, when she asked for him to just take her, well. A little over a week without sex isn’t long. But months of pent up frustration without the specific release he needed was too much.

Elevator opened, and he saw himself going to the kitchen, glass of cold water. He tossed his hoodie in the direction of the sofa and groaned.

This week’s been hell.

“Honey, you’re finally home.” He heard someone say. Hand already on his gun, but he recognized her voice. He turned and saw her, sitting on his chair on the living room, looking at him with hunger in her eyes, pretty little black dress, legs crossed and a glass of bourbon at her hand.

“Elizabeth, how did you get here?”

“My week is almost up, had to get here to plea my case, darling.” She said, sipping at her glass, smile never leaving her lips.

“Is that so? Well, I’m going to ignore, _for now,_ the how did you get here question and focus on you.” He looked at her. The fireplace was lit, and the fire was the only thing making her face visible.

He turned on the lights and saw a bunch of files around her.

“What the fuck is this?”

“Everything I caused you for my whims and games, about to be gone. I spent all week thinking about how I would plea my case to you, to your satisfaction, but also not burn us too soon. I am in fucking love with you, Rio. I want to give myself to you fully, but there are things that I’m not ready to disclaim, alright? So, given that, I won’t need to plea my case, if there is none.”

“None? I just spent a few moments having a little repartee with your friend Agent Turner, he’s so smug, talked about a pretty house wife that visited him, so you better not lie to me, Elizabeth. Tell me you didn’t betray me again.”

“I talked to him, yes. Told him a little story, that you came to look for me again. That I am your mistress now. He didn’t like that. But I needed alibis. For having a continuing relationship with you from now on, and for what I did.”

“What did you do, Elizabeth?”

“I closed the case.”

“What?”

“Do you see these files, here?” She said, taking one in her hand and opening. “Uh, known associates, this one is fun. They have the records of all your tatted boys. Well, not all, but at least a bunch of them. Well, they are now” she threw then at the fireplace. “gone.”

That woman was crazy. He couldn’t believe what she was saying, how the hell- did she really got the files from Turner?

“Elizabeth, you better not-“. His mind was already going places. Did she seduce him? No, she wouldn’t. And Turner would have been impossibly cocky then.

“I went there. Knew where his office was, had been there telling the blueberry story. Got in where they are keeping everything about you. I’m a great bullshitter. Gave myself brown hair, a little more curves and brown eyes behind glasses. Interpol Agent, I have a hacker who is very convincing when opening every electronic door that exists. Cooked me up a good ID, also known as a key. Got to the file room, checked out everything, it was my, well, Agent Wright’s, jurisdiction. She had busted one of your boys with drugs overseas. She needed to immerse herself.”

She was up now and walking towards him, hand in the fireplaces’ bricks, feeling the room, taking her time.

“Go on” He said, now giving in and smiling at her.

“Used my key, courtesy of my friend, to log on the system. Used a little gift she gave me to very subtly erase everything they had there about a certain gang. Did some rounds, no one would give me the time of day, so I went to the parking lot, hid the files. Was feeling lucky, so just walked away and went to a few streets down, called an uber and went to a nearby pub and downed a bourbon. Had called Jim earlier, needed to talk to him about you. Asked to meet me at his office. He said he would meet me in front of the building. He saw me arriving, hours after all went down. The guy in the bar really think he saw me there for two hours prior, I used an double. Iron clad alibi.”

“Elizabeth.”

“In the middle of our conversation, another agent called for him. He was real mad, too. Dismissed me quick, so I went to the parking lot, where I had left my van and loaded her up. Drove here. They have nothing on you now. They are going to start again. But they’ll get nothing, because now I’m going to be with you for every step.” She smiled and then threw an entire box at the fireplace, fire rising, showing her in beautiful red. “What’s my sentence, judge?”

He smirked. Fucking woman had him by the collar.

“Fuck, Elizabeth.” He said and in one second, she was on him, hands on him face, lips on his.

“Yes, please” she said between their kiss. He broke them apart and looked at her beautiful blue eyes, darkened, looking like the fucking storm he’d felt coming since the day he first saw her.

They were a fucking storm, inevitable after all the heat.

He roughly pulled her for another kiss. He was so angry at everything. Specially at himself, for doubting her, for doubting his readings of her. She ran her nails on his back, he could feel the marks she was leaving. She bit his lip and laughed.  

“C’mon, Rio. Just let go, no holding back.”

He smiled at her and pushed her against the wall, making the frame fall in the ground. She opened her eyes, bit her lip and grabbed his neck, kissing him again, a lot angrier and hungrier. Their tongues fighting for dominance, their bodies glued together, so hot she could almost combust right there.

Rio’s hand went to her face as he traced the line of her jaw, his eyes burning. His thumb against her lips. He was looking at her like Dean never had, nor had she wanted him to. But his eyes made her heartbeat quicken and she felt like every neuron on her brain were all alert and working, making all her thoughts disappear from her head.

“How’d you get here?” he asked, their lips barely touching, his fingers pressuring her jaw just lightly, pushing her to look up so he could kiss down her neck, her pulse point going crazy.

“I have my ways.”

“I said I wanted the truth, Elizabeth” then he bit her at the base of her neck near her shoulder and she felt a pulsating energy leave her brain all the way down, like a shiver.

“I can’t give you everything, Rio. Not right now, I hope you can understand. But I- I was really scared of you-“.

“That I’d kill you? Elizabeth, you know better.”

“No. That you’d leave me alone. That you’d disappear from my life. That- I was afraid I wouldn’t quit you and destroy everything that I’ve built.”

“That the main problem, yeah? We can’t quit each other, Elizabeth. I’m afraid we both have to commit. Sacrifices, for both of us.”

“Being with you means that I would put myself right in the front line of danger. I have kids, I have my family-“.

“Car man.” He said, disdain in his voice and a sudden darkness. It was like he wanted to possess her the moment he remembered- He wanted her to be only his. Forever.

“No, I never even thought of him. Already started the process of divorce. Rio, I never cared like this for anyone before. Just you, you gotta believe this.”

He seemed to relax a bit, but responded with a bruising kiss, his hands going to her waist and lower, trying to bring their bodies closer. She could feel everything, his arousal, his desire, his love. It was unbelievable.

His hands came to her hair next, pulling a bit. She broke the kiss, biting his lower lip. She wanted to show him. She needed the upper hand, so she rotated them, pushing him against the wall, his back against a frame, that felt shattering as well.

Fuck it, it was always going to be like this with her then? Game on.

He tried to open the intricate zipper, ripping the fabric a little bit, but that wasn’t how she wanted this to go. She pressed against him even harder and ran her hands against his abdomen, going for his belt.

She wanted him to see that she was all in. Quickly worked on his belt, pulling him to walk backwards with her to the couch.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you played me, Elizabeth. You sent me to jail.” He said while they walked.

“You won’t be going to jail, they have no proof against you.”

“They have DNA evidence. Tell me it’s not yours.”

“Dealt with. What do you think I am? An amateur? Evidence compromised.”

“They have a witness.”

“Yeah, sure. Boomer? Please. The guy didn’t see anything. He thinks he saw a tattoo in the first robbery. He saw my lover leaving my house. He had drugs, porn and photos of his dick on my sister’s phone. A ticket to Mexico. No one will listen to him.”

“I just want to know, Elizabeth. You look me in the eyes, you answer me honestly and all animosity goes out the window. Again. Why you did it?”

He looked at her, eyes full of lust, but somehow contained. He was fighting it and he wanted to know.

The problem was: she wasn’t ready to tell him. It was too much too fucking fast.

“I already told you. Partially. You told me to go home. I thought it was over, that I was too late, so I was petty and sent you to jail. Used the girls for it, Ruby’s money issue. I knew you wouldn’t kill me, I was mad, because you make me mad and I don’t like it. I also don’t like the idea of not having you. I’m sorry it took me this long.”

Shit.

“You gonna pay, Elizabeth, you hear me?”

She nodded, semblance so innocent, but eyes like fire.

Fuck. This woman.

“But not right now.” He said and grabbed her, pulling her dress up, leaning and kissing the part of her stomach that he uncovered. The black lace of her underwear. He kissed the surprising tattoo on her hip. Dragon’s eye.

“Tell me, Elizabeth- I wanna know.”

She didn’t need to ask him what he wanted, she knew exactly what it was. She couldn’t give this to him yet.

“I can’t just yet. Just- I lost some people, it was my fault, I was so stupid, I got cocky and I broke the rule, so- Rio, I’m trying to bring myself up again.”

“You ain’t gotta tell me, sweetheart. Not right now. But I want to her you say it, so I can continue.” His lips branding her inner thigh, his stubble feeling amazing against her skin.

But no, sir. She had other plans.

She brought him back up for a kiss, slow and tender this time. She tried to memorize his taste, the way he felt against her.

“Tell me what you want, darling.”

He was looking at her, smiling and she chose to use it as leverage and turned them, pushing him to the couch.

“You see, I’m not going to say anything. I’ll show you, _my king._ You just sit here, enjoy.”

“Elizabet-“

“Shh. No. I’m going to show you” she said, looking at him. “That I don’t want to steal your kingdom.” With a wicked smile she dropped to her knees, placing herself between his legs. She ripped his buttoned shirt open, buttons flying. “That you have my allegiance” her hands went to his jeans, nails scratching the exposed skin above the button. “That I want you a lot more than I want everything else.” Her mouth comes close, hot lips barely there. “More than your money” She works quickly to open his pants and she pulled. He was more than half-hard now, and she came even closer, the corner of her lips against him, her eyes glued to his. “More than your kingdom.”   

“Wouldn’t that be fun?”

She didn’t bother to respond him. Her nails were buried in his skin while she got rid of his boxers. He was better than in her dreams, but could it be any different? A lot bigger than Dean, if she remembered correctly. Not that she ever did this for Dean unless it was to reward him for doing what she demanded. Like it was everything in sex for her.

“Fun would be if you just let me thoroughly enjoy doing this.” For the first time in her life she was looking forward to this. She wasn’t just going with the flow or manipulating her husband. She wasn’t trying to seduce him without an intent. She had done a lot of missions that entailed sex or sometimes she just added sex as a facilitator. It was one of her better arms. “So if you feeling… _magnanimous”_ she said with a smile, throwing his words back to him. “You’d sit, relax and let me do this for you. Just lay down and fuck my mouth, would you?

The look on his face was dichotomic. He looked equally aroused, ready to let her take the lead, but at the same time he was a little reluctant. Was it hurting his male ego or something?  Did he wanted to selflessly be there _for her_? Not this time.

She didn’t wait any long and just went for it, her breath brushing his skin, her lips on his inner thigh, slowly. She could feel him get harder, twitching against her cheek. Enough with the teasing, she wanted him in her mouth now, it’s been long enough.  

Elizabeth wasn’t one for start small, she wanted to show him since the beginning, and she wanted him to make her feel it after. It’s been years since she did this and even then, Dean wasn’t Rio. Not even close.

Sure, she remembers her sexual journey as a spy, learning to time the fucks she had to go through. Knew how to go to building to climax in seconds, knew how to control her body like a fucking pro. Even though, she knew she would be feeling it tomorrow. And she craved it.

One of the first things she learned in those missions was how to suppress her gag reflex, so she just swallowed him in one go.

Oh shit, her throat is going to be sore tomorrow.

Rio, apparently, had some delay as he wasn’t expecting this development. He looked almost like he wasn’t believing they were doing this. She understands, because one week ago she would never have imagined that she would be in Rio’s house, pleading him to let go and just fuck her face, dammit.

It’s already different, because she’s so fucking wet and arousal wasn’t a part of this, once upon a time. But she loved it, she loved the concentration on his eyes, like he needed all his body to listen to him and don’t get this over too soon. She loved the weight of him on her tongue, the velvety feel, the ecstasy building on the very core of her being. His taste.

She bobbed her head a couple time, sucking and moving her tongue, paying attention to when he tensed, it was a tell that he was trying to control himself.

Beth didn’t want that, so she pulled off and looked at him, full red lips and a lot of impatience.

“Could you just get on with the program and not let me do all the work? I want you to fuck my mouth. Think of it was a part of my punishment.” She said and winked at him.

Rio seemed to say _fuck it_ and accept that and started doing what she wanted. His hands went for her hair and he pulled, the little pain going straight to her center. She liked it this way. Pain and danger for her were always aphrodisiacs. He caught up fast, because in seconds he’s using her like she wanted. It’s a little sloppy – she wasn’t preoccupied with technique at this point.

He built a punishing rhythm and fucked her throat spectacularly. She had a few tricks up her sleeves, like her eyes on his and her nails clawing on his muscled thigh. She held him down a bit and licked the underside of his shaft, curled her tongue around the tip and moved to his balls, taking her time to enjoy, using her hand of him. She then moved to his hip bone, using her teeth at the same time her nails drew lines on his side. She mouthed the tip and hummed, looking at him, before going back.

Her jaw ached, but she wanted more. More of this, more of him. Her hands cupped his balls and she used her fingers to massage his perineum, which made him grab her hair more forcefully and go even deeper.

“Elizabeth- you have to stop-“ he tried to warn her, but she did it again and moaned around him, her hand leaving his balls and going down her own body, going between her legs, touching herself through her underwear.

This set a shock though her body and she moaned again, this time going all the way to the base, her nose against his pubic bone. She saw him throwing his head on the couch, a groan leaving his throat.  

He came with “ _Elizabeth”_ as a warning, but she was ready for it. She swallowed it all, marveled by the taste of him and touched his hand on her hair. He let her go and looked at her, eyes open.

“Holy shit, Elizabeth.”

“Indeed.” She answered, moving closer to him like a cat, eyes full of heat. He met her halfway and lied her down on the sofa, pulling her for a kiss. She loved his taste, it made her almost orgasm with him. She always swallowed on missions, but with Dean she usually didn’t. In truth, she never used her full potential with him after they were married. Their sex life had never been stellar, but they did have some good moments back in college. But after, it was like she didn’t even care about sex anymore. It lost the appeal, without the adrenaline.

But when Rio kissed her, demanding and pulled on her dress, ruining it a little more and exposing her breasts, and licked his way to her nipples, it was almost like she was experiencing it for the first time.

At the same time, he left her dress out of the way and touched her slightly through her lace panties and put it to the side, touching her clit before entering her with two fingers at once.

“Fuck, Elizabeth, you are even better than I imagined.”

“You too.” Well, that was true. He barely began touching her and she was already feeling her orgasm built. It still was a little surprising for her. She imagined that Rio would be the one. The one guy who could make her come, even with his hands, but a part of her always thought it was her, that was broken. That would never allow a man to make her feel like this.

All the orgasms she had in her lifetime were work of women. Mostly herself, but there were missions that she had to seduce powerful women that couldn’t be fooled by men. And there was Ophelia after all.

She believed sexuality was fluid, but she never had felt that much attracted to women or men, really. Ophelia was one. Rio was another. Dean was just convenient. Sure, she had a lot of partners, but she supposed that to feel that much pleasure she needed the right person.

Only she never thought that the right person would be a crime king she robbed.

“I know you were close, Elizabeth. And I know you are now. I could see it in your eyes, so just listen to me one fucking time and come” He said, demanding and she obeyed, moaning his name while she clawed on his back.

Oh, that was a surprise. If one thing was a certainty, it was that she never gave anyone control. Over her, her body, her mind, her heart.

Rio had everything.

“Oh God.” She said when he kissed down her body and traced her tattoo with his tongue, teasing her a bit, showing what he wanted now. “Fuck, you are perfect. I love you.”

She could say that now, right? I mean, they knew already, didn’t they? What just happened, even with her limited experience with love, she knew it wasn’t just good, amazing, mind-blowing sex.

He was looking at her, she could almost say

He kissed her and she felt him smiling. His hands passing up her body, lighting up like sparks where his touch was. She moaned his name when his hand rested on her neck, pressing just slightly. She looked at him, her arousal too much to bare, all of it coming at her at once. Beth had never felt so endangered. Like she was balancing in the edge of a cliff and she wanted to jump so bad.

She looked at him, pleading for him to just apply a little more pressure, so she could feel alive, like she hadn’t for more than a decade. To make her fall of a cliff and just feel him. Everything at his hands.

He grinned at her, with that obnoxious look that always told her _"I know who you are and what you want_ ”.  

“You are amazing, Elizabeth. I guess I can say that I lo-“.

They heard someone laughing down the elevator hall.

“Rio, if you’re home, I’m coming in!” They jumped away from each other. Beth tried to straighten her dress while Rio was trying to look presentable with his ripped shirt, belt already buckled.

The door flew open and two people got in. A woman, beautifully tall and lean, flawless on a jeans and blouse and heels and a guy that looked like a less bad boy version of Rio with rich green eyes.

They both looked at the living room and saw them.

“Oh, shit!” the guy said, shocked to see Beth there. Well, she was even prettier in person, no wonder Rio was all whiny about her.

“Diego-“.

“Rio, oh, sorry- I didn’t think- I actually just- I just came by to take my- my things. I forgot- uhn. I didn’t know you had a visitor. Hello.”

She looked at Beth with a fake smile, accessing her like a hawk.

“I was just leaving” she said, looking at Rio. Who was she?

“Dani, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I know, I used the spare key I took away with me last week. I just needed a thing that was in my jacket.”

Beth couldn’t wait any longer. She was getting madder by the second and she didn’t even know why. Shit. She was jealous as hell. The girl said last week, so she was with Rio, in his apartment, last week.

_C’mon, Elizabeth. You sent him to jail last week and you were fucking Frank, even though it was a mutually agreed commitment for helping Annie._

“Rio- I- I’ll talk to you later.”

She almost ran to the door, grabbing her purse and coat and fleeing in the direction of the elevator.

“Elizabeth-“. She heard him call her and turned, seeing him on the hallway. “She- Elizabeth, I think we still have some things to talk about, yeah? Just stay-.”

“You better see what they want first. Uh, I’ll be home, you can- go there and knock. Or maybe just let yourself in, like always.”

“She’s nothing, Elizabeth.”

“No, she’s not nothing, Rio. She has the key to the castle. I said I loved you and I don’t even know you. Your birthday, your favorite food, color, what did you want to be when you were a kid, your fucking full name, you-“.

“Those are just trivial things, Elizabeth. I know you and I l-“.

“No, I just realized this is crazy, we-.”

“March 23rd, my abuela’s food, black, I wanted to be an artist and my name, following mexican tradition was supost to be longer, but my parents wetn with just Rio Antonio Castillo. But it doesn’t matter, because it goes beyond that.”

“I just- I need to think. You can resolve this and come- I don’t know.” The elevator arrived and she hopped in.

“Elizabeth-.”

Whatever he wanted to say was lost when the elevator doors closed.

She got out of his building and walked to her car. Oh God, she was a total mess. No wonder the woman wanted to kill her, she had sex hair, her lipstick was gone and probably all over Rio, she didn’t notice. Her dress was ruined.

Grabbing her purse, she did what she could to look presentable and started driving.

She needed a bath.

Arriving home, she grabbed her cell and saw a missed call.

Agent Turner.

He had left a message as well. Telling her he was going to her house. It was from over an hour ago. She noticed the car near her house. Opening the door, she went in slowly. Did he break into her house?

She went to the living room and saw him in the backyard.

“You called me, Agent Turner?” She said, turning on the lights to the back porch. He smiled and walked towards her.

“Yes, Mrs. Boland. Or should I say Elizabeth Mérrieux?” He said, condescending smirk and arched eyebrow. She felt her body tense up. What did he know? Shit. “You were a tough woman to find, it is what they tell, about hiding in plain sight.”

“Were you surveilling me?”

“You were really pissed off leaving Castillo’s building. Lover’s quarrel?”

There was her answer.

“I thought I said to you I could fend for myself. As I said, he procured me again and-“.

“And now you are his number-one mistress, am I right? Well, women always are very attracted to the bad ones, it’s almost like they like to be disrespected.”

“You should mind what you’re saying, Agent Turner. I never did give you that liberty. Also, never thought of you as a misogynist.”

“C’mon, Elizabeth-“

“Didn’t give you the liberty to call me that as well.”

“Well, what do you think I guy like him will give you besides a meaningless fuck and some rough handling. These guys live for violence, you know?”

“You know nothing about Rio or the others. It’s prejudice, because they come for what you might consider a lower place in the social pyramid. A little xenophobia to accompany your sexist ways? Just because a man comes from a rougher place and brands himself as such and starts building himself an empire it doesn’t mean he’s a criminal.”

“Never pegged you as stupid.”

“You should never peg me as anything, I’m not a brainless trophy wife who you think served only to pop out a couple kids and spent her days by the kitchen waiting for dear old husband to bring back the coin.”

“Of course not, because now I know where you came from. Where the money came from. I totally understand why you gave yourself to the first guy who offered. If my husband poorly invested away my dead father’s money while fucking some blond bimbo, I would too.”

“Didn’t give myself to anyone. I’m not an object. And Rio wasn’t the first guy who offered, believe me. You have no idea how many people have wanted me. I saw something in him.”

“What? His latino charm? His sexy voice? His endless dirty money allure you to his web? His bad boy façade distracted you from the big gun?”

She chuckled.

“Didn’t know your likes went that way, Agent Turner.” _Because I saw the way you looked at me at the hotel restaurant._ “Well, sexuality is fluid, I myself won’t judge you in any way. But be sure to don’t confuse things. Obsessing about Rio and catching him, it could lead to something else, confuse the weak-minded.”

The smile aimed at her was full of contempt.

“Just wanted to let you know you’ve been an easy target. Seeing your life story, I now understand much better why Castillo left his girl Daniella Gonzalez to bed some suburban bitch, as he put it.”

The minute he talked about Daniella, Beth was interested. It must be the Latina bitch that interrupted them not long ago. Turner calling her a suburban bitch angered her to no end, but it did look like something Rio would say.

He was wrong. He had to be. Rio wanted her and she knew it. Beth could see it in his eyes and feel it, it was explosive between them, the thing you get usually once in a lifetime.

But Daniella was a piece in the game she wasn’t expecting.

The way she moved around Rio’s place. She had the key, they had been together the week before, she knew so much about him.

“Daniella Gonzalez? Who is she?”

“Always a part of Castillo’s life, daughter of a family friend, known to be Castillo’s girl for a long time. His queen, of sorts.”

The word queen hurt. Shit. She was Anne Boleyn in this case and the irony just angered her. Rio wanted her for connections them? He knew who she was? Would he just throw her away after sex and go back to his queen? Deny everything involved with her when tired of her, when she had nothing to give him.

Kill her for treason.

“What do you think he wanted from me?”

“Did you know why your father was shot in Brazil that time? He was a diplomat, not from the US, so I had to dig a little. He had been looking into a liberal party in Rio who was known to have ties with the militia and with drug trafficking. Ties that went all over America. From Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and all the way to Mexico and into the US.”

What?

“What? I never knew that.”

“They buried the investigation. But now things are coming together as more news involving the politician in question are available. Too many deaths and money transactions, ties to the family and the criminal activities in the favelas and all over the cartels.”

“My father’s death is being investigated again?” What? Cartels? She thought that it was Ophelia’s doing.

“Yes. I looked over some information you might appreciate, even though I can’t disclosure anymore about the investigation. But that concerns you and your family”.

“What?”

“Even though your father’s actions could directly affect Brazilian mob families, organized crime and police militia, the order came from the US. It was starting to interfere with plans up here. Do you know who was involved?”

“Who?” She asked, but she had a feeling that she knew who.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wanted to focus the first time on Rio, because it's usually poor Beth that gets a mind-blowing ride after years of frustrated boring sex with Dean. Elizabeth hadn't care about sex so much as a way of manipulate others or as an arm, so that will be changing with Rio.  
> Dani appeared, she will be a pain in the ass, but not in a sense of "going to break them up, Rio's mine" active interference. She will hate Elizabeth though, but she'll have more motivation than the typical evil female in romances. And I might change my mind and make her a delight, who knows.  
> Also, Turner is totally a bisexual, but he's also an kind of a sexist asshole, like a lot of LGBT men.  
> So the father plot returns. I will be resolving it, but I haven't decide if he's gonna be alive or dead, same thing for Uncle Steve. My little heart wants to revive them both, but I don't know. Tell me what you think.  
> But, Elizabeth is on her way of becoming a full badass again, but that means the past comes clashing.  
> Yay.  
> Gimme your thoughts. I might comeback and edit some things, because I usually spend 3 days rereading, but I was in a hurry to post this, I don't know why. -xx


	10. Initiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Maybe you could do what you’ve been told and appear tomorrow. Elizabeth, I’m tired of these games, if you keep playing, we are going to have a problem.”   
> “Games are all we are, Rio. If we stop, we no longer exist.”   
> “Then you said what you said- nah, you lying Elizabeth. You don’t believe this. I’mma let you figure your shit out and I expect you tomorrow, I’ll come get you. Payment is due.”   
> “Is Dani coming with us?”   
> He chuckled.   
> “Is this what it is? You jealous, mama?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, now we're going places. Our favorite couple is a very complex one to right.   
> I will be getting them together for real next chapter, but not quite yet as a romantic couple. More like sex in a business partners with benefit type thing. There's some angst coming, not related to them I promise, that will totally revert Elizabeth to her old self finally.   
> Brought Boomer up again. Hate him, thought he got off easy on the show, so I'm definitely not doing that here. Mary Pat also angered me too much to the point that I don't care if she's a mother, I hate her. You don't mess with Ruby and Stan, bitch.   
> So, even though she didn't do that here, I want her to suffer a bit, so the thing I have planned for her will get a little worse.  
> Dean also got me so mad in the last chapters, especially with the depression thing and the scene where the basically harasses all women around him. Gross. Brought him back because I want him to suffer.   
> This chapter is more like a character study maybe. You see more of Rio and Diego, you see how Elizabeth deals with her past and I'll be bringing it a little about at the beginning as I go.   
> Next chapter will be more centered around them, very nervous about that too.  
> Hope you like it.

 

When Elizabeth was thirteen, she had her first summer romance. Except it wasn’t summer. Her father was preparing for their move to Egypt, so they had a little trip there. Of course, one of his posh friends had a dinner party. Elizabeth liked to go to those. She liked when people were in awe of her, how smart she was, how independent, wise beyond her years.

But after a while it got boring so when the daughter of one of the guests called her over for a different party on the gardens, she didn’t think twice.

Some embassy kids had robbed a few bottles of the best champagne and they were having a party of their own.

After the first bottle was gone, they were playing stupid party games and that rapidly became truth or dare.

She was dared to take her clothes off and jump inside this big ass fountain. She did that without problems and she could feel a few eyes on her.

A year after that, she was just shy of fifteen and the same group was there. She really liked Dalilah, the girl that had asked her over to their hidden party that first time. She still visited Beth sometimes, had become an environmental activist, loved her kids, specially Dan.

The party became their thing. Their little group’s way of feeling even more grown up than they were. They did it all the time.

Of course, truth or dare got even most daring and then it went to fountains to seven minutes in heaven behind the bushes.

She was an early developer and had the genes of her mother for large breast and tiny waists. The first time she had jumped on the fountain she had that awkward point between woman and girl.

Now she had outgrown her girl body.

“C’mon Liz, take it off.” John had said. He was the one that dare her to do that. Also, the guy who had touched her for the first time with no clothes on during one of the seven-minute escapades. It was a good feeling but didn’t get her there. She had read a lot about this, it was supposed to feel amazing.

She had felt alright.

“Fountain girl!” they screamed.

She did run to the fountain, almost naked except for her bra and panties and jumped. When she emerged, they were all laughing. The boys looked at her, she could see that her simple white bra didn’t cover much all wet, but she didn’t care. She liked the power.

What she didn’t like was this burning sensation of someone else watching her. John gave her his jacket and they laughed. Then she saw him.

The guy watching in a most certain very expensive suit. All black, making his blue eyes seem cold. He was partially hidden behind a tree on the garden and returned her stared for few seconds before vanishing.

The guys were called in, probably to talk to some important business man, so it was just Dalilah with her. Then her little sister Isis appeared, and they ran after her for a while, playing catch throughout the bushes. But when the little girl tripped and started crying, Dalilah looked at her apologetic and grabbed her, going up inside and saying she’d be right back.

Elizabeth walked around the garden, reveling on the nice warmish night, a good break from the ruthless cold ones. Of course, it was getting darker, the peak of night usually caused almost total blindness and the garden lights are the only thing guiding her, even though they are getting far away from her with which step.

She was at the tree where hers and Dalilah’ initials were carved and where they installed a swing for Annie and Isis. When she touched the swing, she felt someone grab her by the arm and behind the tree.

All she saw were cold blue eyes.

She tried to scream, but he put his hand around her neck and covered her mouth.

“Do not make a sound.” He threatened.

She remembered what her uncle taught her, but he was too strong. She knew what to do, but she felt helpless, like she couldn’t move, like her body was shut down and she was going into shock. He saw this was an opportunity and threw her on the ground and touched her all over, pressing his body against hers and grabbing her breasts hurtfully.

His hand was in her mid-thigh when she heard a noise off something breaking and saw that Dalilah had broken a vase on his head. They ran off, back to the party, and were too scared to tell anyone.

That night, she got off her bed and tip-toed to her uncle’s room. James was there, reading some files, looked at her, like he could read her thoughts and said he was on the office.

Her uncle’s office was this big portion of the house that he had made into his training and working wing. No one was allowed there besides him, James and their employees, and occasionally her father.

She knocked, a little shy.

Her uncle answered the door, all sweaty, his hands wrapped by bandages.

“Eliza.”

“I want you to teach me how to overpower a man.”

“What? Why?”

“A guy tried to-“. She knew the word for it, but she was scared. “Dalilah broke a vase on his head, and we ran. I felt so helpless, all the years of basic self-defense you taught me, useless. He was too strong; I was too emotional. I want to lean how to switch it off and to never be overpowered by a man ever again.”

The expression on his face was furious. His eyes were cold, and he tensed up. If it would’ve been anyone else, she’d be scared. It was like a ruthless lion protecting his pride.

No words were spoken after he pulled her in and showed what she needed to know. He gave her something to wear and guided her trough everything like a tutorial.

Elizabeth was glad he knew she didn’t want to talk about it. So instead, he spent all night teaching her.

And when she felt so tired and overworked that she couldn’t move, her body dripping sweat, her muscles screaming, her body unbalanced, he took her to her bathroom and said she should take a soaking bath with hot water. It was the best thing in the world for her. She went straight to her bed and finally cried for minutes that looked like days and passed out from exhaustion when the sun was rising.

She woke up by lunch time and Dalilah was there. After, her uncle took them to his office and interrogated the hell out of them to get the description of the guy.  

Turned out they were right. He was an important man.

Six weeks later that man died on a car crash. Her uncle looked at her when he brought them the news. Her father didn’t know about what happened, but he wasn’t that moved by his co-worker’s brutal accident. Her mother told them he had a dangerous tone. Annie said he looked like a Disney villain.

“I somehow always felt the he would end like this, something about him was off.” Her father said, drinking his favorite bourbon.

“It’s sad to say this, but I have a feeling he had it coming.” Siena said, sipping her tea.

Her uncle raised an eyebrow. Elizabeth felt so relieved, and at the same time, she worked harder. She tried to bring it up during training for two weeks, her uncle never said anything. But she knew he was involved, and she was weirdly glad.

It took her another three for her to overpower the guy her uncle brought to fight her.

A man trapping her? Never again.

 

-

 

And still, Rio did it. Metaphorically, of course. But still did. Trapped her heart and soul. Trapped her body, her loyalty. Trapped her fake self and brought the old real Elizabeth back to the surface.

“C’mon, Beth, you know who.”

“No, I really don’t. Rio must have been what? Eighteen? He had no empire then.”

“No. It wasn’t him. Well, I don’t really know.”

“Then who?”

“The Gonzalez cartel, apparently. They are known associates of Castillo’s, his girlfriend’s father, Joaquim Gonzalez.”

Her heart stopped. Her vision was blurring, and she felt so light-headed. No. There was no way. No. No. Rio did not seduce her because of her father.

“But what- why? It doesn’t make sense; my father is dead. He has been for 10 years! Why would he come after me?”

“Your father had some incriminating documents, ways to bury the Gonzalez cartel. To lock them away for good. My contact expected him to deliver back then, but he canceled the deal and used the info to protect his family.”

No. She had never felt like this, all she wanted was to cry and scream and to hurt. Hurt someone, anyone.

She needed to know. All those years she blamed herself for her father’s death and now she might be in love with the guy who was the one to blame.

Fuck her life, fuck Rio.

But even then, Turner didn’t know the real way they met. Maybe Rio already had her under surveillance and that was how he found out about the robbery. Because she was so careful.

She’ll kill him. Love or not, she’ll make him suffer.

“You need to hand me some proof, right here.”

“I’ll do that, but I’ll need some things in exchange, Beth.”

“What? No. I have the right to know, it’s my life and it was my father. You better hand me these files or I’ll find a way to get them.” She said, very voice lowering dangerously.

“Wait, calm down. I’ll give them to you, but I need you, to help me to bust out Rio. You see, we had a major throwback in the investigation. We need new leads, and from what I’ve learned, Rio is very fueled when you’re around.” _Because he cares for you, Elizabeth Boland. He cares so much that even the slightest slip of your name makes him furious, protective. I know you’re not telling me everything. I won’t blame him, you are breathtaking, and I’ll use you to destroy him._

“What are you planning?”

“He’ll be in that benefit hosted by one of his contacts, this business mogul with some ties with criminal activities. Thanks to Rio and his personnel, we never found a way to prove the guy’s dirty. He’s that good, making people look legit.”

“Oh, he talked to me about it. I was supposed to be going with him, but maybe that was never in his plans. If he’ is what you say he is, probably would’ve tried to threaten me today, but Daniella found him first.”

Rio had his hand on her throat the moment that bitch barged in. Beth had practically begged for it and she hardly would have go down with that, she would’ve put up a big fight, but he didn’t know that. Maybe he thought he was about to kill her. To get the documents and then just end her.

As if she would go down. No. She would take him or anyone to hell first. Her father was dead, anyone who wanted to threaten what was left of his legacy would burn in hell, Beth would make sure of it.

Right now, she was going to get herself in shape again. She kept pretty sharp in the gym, without anyone knowing. As a house wife she had a lot of free time in her hands. She would go early in the morning, strength training, a little yoga for flexibility and swimming for stamina.

Now she would weaponize herself even further.

“Tell me about your plan.”

“I’m going to this benefit. Rio needs to spread the word that the FBI has nothing on him.” Which was true, thanks to her silly little crush on him. “I want to take you there. It’ll make him furious, he hates to lose. I want him out of control, so I can get him to admit to something, at least. Or maybe lose his temper with me.”

“Why do you think that my being there will help, if he just fucked me for leverage?”

“His pride. Even though he is with Gonzalez’ daughter, he had you, so his pride will be a little hurt, because he didn’t get what he wanted from you, Joaquim will be pissed as well.”

“That his future son-in-law not only cheated on his daughter, but also couldn’t fuck the information away from a house wife?”

“Joaquim couldn’t care less about his daughter. He speaks only one language and it’s money. He has several mistresses, it’s not unusual from men like them to exchange women like they exchange money.”

“Sure, I’ll go with you. But don’t think I’ll forget for one minute about my reasons for going. I don’t trust you, Agent Turner. For me, badges don’t mean a thing. You could be even dirtier than the men you chase.”

“Fair enough, Beth.” Turner said, reaching down and giving her some files. “Some stuff there, it’s pretty shocking. You can call me if-“.

“Yeah, no thanks. I can handle it.” It was not like she didn’t watch her uncle get tortured in front of her whilst Ophelia talked about her father’s death.

“Take care. Your car accident, Mrs. Boland. It wasn’t an accident. Castillo is dangerous.”

Oh, that she knew.

But she was more.

“What if after I read this, I change my mind?”

“Why would you not help me bring down the man who has ties to your father’s murderer. Maybe it was even him that killed him? A little over a decade ago? He was active already. Not exactly eighteen either.”

“You don’t know anything, you’re using vague information to manipulate me, agent Turner. I’ll investigate further, you have ways to falsify data, I’ll know if you’re lying.”

“C’mon, Elizabeth-“

“Don’t.”

“Mrs. Boland, Ms. Mérrieux. Whatever you want me to call you. You are a smart woman, so you know that I’m determined to bring Rio down, I won’t hesitate to bring you and your lady friends down with you. Ruby Hill, daughter on the hospital. Your little sister, Annie. You know, I had a guy come to my office, accusing you of all these crazy things. Now he has been arrested, he’s under my care. Guy’s livid, you know? Says some bitches set him up.”

Boomer.

“What did he bring you?”

“Lots of information, saw Rio in your house. Now we both know why he was there. He’s been saying all these things about you guys in his holding cell. He’s mad, all he can say is how this provocative bitch will pay. You know, the proves against him are pretty damming, but you also know that, sometimes, this isn’t enough to keep him there.”

“Are you threatening me? Are you going to unleash Boomer on me if I don’t cooperate with your little scam?”

“I would never. I’m just saying that the story about him robbing the store doesn’t make sense, there were women there. No woman would work for him for favor. It doesn’t add up. If I was to investigate on this, I would have to let him free.”

“Yeah, sure. Wasn’t he in risk of trying to run away?”

“You are awfully interest and well-informed.”

“Call it a personal interest.”

“Might as well. I’m sure if he knows enough, I can always make him my CI, guy runs a grocery store, the very one where its robbery got us Castillo. He might have a lot of good information.”

“Not even you believe this, Agent Turner.”

“The thing is, Mrs. Boland, that I do have the power to make your life harder. You wouldn’t want me as an enemy.”

“Again you come in with the threats. I don’t respond well to them, Agent. And now I think that maybe you are not the nice guy you say you are.”

“The world is not black and white, my dear Elizabeth.”

“Don’t call me that.”

He only smiled at her and went for the door. Bastard.

 

-

 

Rio saw her eyes full of doubt before the elevator doors closed. Then he went back to his place.

“Dani, Diego. What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to grab my things from last week, Rio. Diego, he was coming here, he gave me a ride, that’s all. Who was that girl?”

“None of your business.”

“Is she a new contact? She looked like a hooker. Pretty high end. Started paying for it now?”

“That doesn’t concern you. Dani, I told you that last week was a mistake. I had just gotten out of prison, I told you-.”

“I know Rio. Just didn’t think you’d throw me away for some white bitch you barely knew.”

“I’m not throwing you away. We fucked sometimes when a little drunk, but we haven’t dated for a very long time, I thought I’ve been clear.”

“Yes. Crystal. Now excuse me.” She went upstairs for her stuff.

Rio looked at his best friend.

“Shit, man. Sorry I brought Dani here. I thought you were going to drink your weight in tequila and go on a rampage doing stupid shit. Thought I’d limit that stupidity to this apartment.”

“Yeah, you have great timing. Sometimes I forget you have amazing cockblocking properties.”

“So the house wife came, huh? Or didn’t and that precisely why you’re looking at me this way.” He laughed even more when Rio glared at him.

“She- I can’t even- Diego, she’s so much more than anything I’d imagined. She fucking stole the FBI.”

“What?”

“She burned a lot but look at the files there. Turner has nothing on me, they lost everything. Elizabeth did it, somehow. That’s why he was so desperate today. He also tried to get me angered about her. But he wouldn’t have known that she was the one that stole the files.”

Diego wasn’t even listening to him anymore, having found an interesting file instead.

“They know my middle name?! What the fuck, I thought I had buried that shit when I was 18.”

“That was the one thing that caught your attention just then? You hopeless, yeah?” He chuckled. Diego was an odd one, attentive, sociable and selfless, everything Rio wasn’t. That’s why they complimented each other so well.

“That’s because your middle name isn’t _Gumersindo_ , huh, _Antonio_.”

“I love your mother, but she chooses the worst names for her children.”

“That one is not her fault, it’s a family name, father side. It’s supposed to mean the one who travels to fight, but it’s just damn ugly. My abuela wanted me to be called that. Mami was the one that said there was no way in hell her only son would have this name.”

“Well, _madrina_ can handle her shit.”

“Of course, that was probably the last document with my middle name on it. They’ve been gathering info on us since we were 15. Shit, over 20 years.”

“Yeah, Turner was mentored by that prick that shot my father and had him thinking of retirement way too soon. Almost caught him, too. I didn’t know Turner was so engaged in this. I shoulda listened to her when she told me about the FBI. Never woulda thought that they kept us under surveillance even before we thrived.”

“Even then, they don’t have that much of our earlier years. A lot of the last couple, though.”

“That’s because Turner’s mentor died in the crossfire in a cartel territory battle. He thinks we were involved.”

“As if we woulda been involved with the cartels. He got better things to do and invest in then a little coke. Sure, big reward, but bigger risk. We ain’t that stupid.”

“But it’s better they think we have, it will keep them busy and they won’t find out about our better deals.”

“It’s so easy to be taken by the appearances, look like a rough street gang and people won’t think you are smart about business. That eagle tattoo helped a lot more than you woulda thought when you got it drunk at your sixteenth birthday. I still remember when you told your uncle. Thought Miguel was going to have an aneurism or somethin’. Your mother almost killed him.”

“Turner probably thinks we are involved with the Gonzalez cartel.”

“Great, let him think it. We gotta use his suppositions as leverage. As If we would really be working for Joaquim, _hijo de puta_ ” he said, voice lower, because Dani was still upstairs. “We are way smarter than that.”

Rio looked at him, brow arched.

“But he doesn’t know that. We went through his initiation, remember? Our rebel days, before _padrino_ decided to call it quits.” Diego said.

“Yeah.”

“He wanted us to take in to the cartel, we were friends with his son. Rio, he wanted you to marry into the family, whatever happened since then, they don’t know. But that’s how they started in on us. Because back when your father gave us the throne, no one knew us.”

“Yeah, Turner’s work daddy probably always thought we were part of the cartel and then bailed. I know we went under the radar for years, it doesn’t make sense. Why they have these files going back to when we were 15.”

They heard steps and watched Daniella going down the stairs.

“All done, Rio. You won’t be seeing me in here again.”

“Dani-“.

“Good bye, Diego. Thank you for the ride.” She said, making a show of throwing the keys on the counter and leaving.

“Damn, she pissed.”

“I ain’t giving a fuck about Dani.”

“Yeah? That’s because it’s not you that has to deal with her bitching and Carmen complaining about your latest fuck up with her friend. It’s always me, Diego, the listener. The one that has to know about everything you do, because God forbid people realize I have a life.”

“As if you don’t like all the gossip. You are an information whore.”

“That I am. But it’s tiring sometimes. I just know too much. It must be the pretty face; people always want to tell their secrets to unattainable handsome people. It comforts them, they also think we’re not paying attention or just don’t care.”

“Funny. Keep thinking that.”

“Shut up. I’ll handle your ex and your sister. Get out of here.”

“What?”

“C’mon. Like I don’t already know. You want her, so go for it, Castillo. Go get your _chica_. Spend the whole night having make-up sex, because I don’t want you pining next to me on the party tomorrow. I’m planning on getting drunk and having lots of sex with a few strangers. I ain’t babysitting you.”

“Fuck off, yeah?” He said, already taking his car keys and leaving.

On the way to her house he was thinking of what he was going to tell her. Maybe they should just forget everything and start over. She broke into the FBI for him, somehow.

But he still felt the sting of her betrayal running deep in his veins, just right alongside the gut-wrenching, heart-stopping feeling that overcame him every time she as much as looked at him.

When he stopped in front of her house, he saw a car parked there. He knew this car.

Turner.

The son of a bitch was there, talking to his Elizabeth again. Apparently, his warning was useless. Turner was too invested to back off. The eminent time that he’ll punch him in the face will be coming soon then.

He got out of the car at the same time as Turner went through the door. When he saw Rio, he smirked.

“She’s all yours, Castillo. Until tomorrow.”

It took all his self-control to not just shoot the fucker right between the eyes, but when he entered the house and saw Elizabeth lost in thought in the middle of the living room, he felt all that sting once again.

“You have a lot of nerve to enter my life like a bitch that can’t stop running her mouth, disrespecting me and stabbing me in the back and saying “I love you” before doing it again.”

Elizabeth looked at him.

Oh boy, Rio was looking at her, madder than she had ever seen him.

“Were those even real files?” He asked, eyes cold. “Or just theatrics to seduce me with an wire on, recording everything for your little friend there. Are your name even Elizabeth?”

She fumed. How dare he? After all she did for him.

“Of course those were the real ones. That was exactly why he came here. He has nothing now, he’s desperate so he’s just shooting all over the place.”

“I said to you, Elizabeth, that just because-”

“You said you didn’t deal with cartels as well. Too messy, right?” She threw the words on his face, furious behind her composed appearance.

“What?” Of all things he was expecting her to say, that hadn’t even crossed his mind. Cartels? What the fuck Turner said to her?

“So how are you going to explain to me the reason that Daniella Gonzalez had a key to your place, huh? You work for them? Or you just married into the family? Have you ever worked for them? I know of Joaquim Gonzales and my feelings aren’t exactly fond towards him.”

“I ain’t going to explain nothing to you, Elizabeth.”

“That’s what I thought. Forget what I said before, alright? If I wanted a man that’s gonna treat me like an idiot I’d stay with Dean. I want equality, Rio. Reciprocity. If you can’t trust me, I won’t trust you.”

“You ain’t having a choice, Elizabeth. I still own you and your lady friends. Payment is required. You better fix what you ruined and pay what you own.”

“No one owns me, Rio. It’s time for you to understand that.”

Dammit that woman. They were fine an hour go. More than fine. Things were finally looking up.

“Elizabeth-”.

“I’m not going to betray you. It’d be hypocritical of me to do so. I did launder your money, it was my choice. I’m not going to say anything, to him or anyone else. I’m just not sure of what to do now.”

_What I’m going to do about us._

“Maybe you could do what you’ve been told and appear tomorrow. Elizabeth, I’m tired of these games, if you keep playing, we are going to have a problem.”

“Games are all we are, Rio. If we stop, we no longer exist.”

“Then you said what you said- nah, you lying Elizabeth. You don’t believe this. I’mma let you figure your shit out and I expect you tomorrow, I’ll come get you. Payment is due.”

“Is Dani coming with us?”

He chuckled.

“Is this what it is? You jealous, mama?” 

If only. Well, she was a little bit. Or maybe a lot, but there were things behind this. She also was scared that Rio had killed her father or had been involved with the people who did. 

Or maybe she was just falling for the trap Turner had armed for her. Hook, line and sinker.

His smug face was back. Great. Rio had her right where he wanted her. Like always. She couldn’t even control her actions anymore, everything had a bias. Her life changed to revolve around him.

He stepped close and grabbed her by the waist.

“You listen to me, Elizabeth. Are you listening?” She nodded. “I’mma say this once, Dani is nothing. She grew up with us, she’s a friend to my sister, she was a hot fuck when I needed, but all the times she wanted more, I didn’t. I never did. For months now it has been strict business, she’s a great fence, moves just about anything. Best in Detroit.”

“So many great qualities.”

“Don’t be obtuse, Elizabeth. I ain’t fucking her. I did, back when you threw the fucking keys on my face and after you got me arrested. But after our talk, no more. I only want you.”

“I know.”

“You gonna be there, yeah?”  

She probably wasn’t. Not a reason to tell Rio that. 

“After you pay our dues there, we gonna talk about our dalliance. This ain’t just a fuck to me, yeah? You better know that.”

“But what about her? Is It just a fuck? I’m sick of letting man dictate my life. What are we doing? C’mon, do you think what we have is real? I robbed you and you made me pay you back, maybe it’s nothing else.”

“Elizabeth- I was dreaming of you long before you imagine” he said to her, eyes clouded with want. “If you hadn’t given me your pearls, I woulda come and get you. No turning back after meeting you.”

“I- I have to get some sleep, I’m-“.

“I’mma let you think it all over.” He said, going out through the door, but not before looking back at her with- something in his eyes.

All she wanted was to ask him to stay. But she couldn’t. Her mind was running miles per hour, rethinking everything she had gathered on her father’s death. All she knew.

When she went to the funeral, she had to feign indifference, but it was soul-crushing. He was everything for her, he was the guy she came to when she had her first crush, when she had her first fight, when she won the writing contest at school, when this guy called her a slut, when she had to choose where she would go to college after the letters came in the mail. He was the one that looked out for her, protected her heart, maintained her human when all she saw herself as was a weapon.

He was there for all the important moments of her life. He helped her when she had to give up everything she knew. He was her father.

There was a hole in her heart where he used to be.

The minute she felt alone, she jumped after the file. There were photos of a young-looking Rio talking with a guy that she assumed was Joaquim. They were shaking hands. It was dated a few months before her father’s death.

There were a lot of things about Joaquim’s business going up the Latin America. Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico and into the US. Ties with the militia in those countries. Military police, drug trafficking, arms dealing, sexual exploitation and prostitution. All of that had ties with this one man: Joaquim. He knew Rio since he was a kid, had business deals with his father, he wanted him as a partner, apparently.

She could see notes that appeared to be Turner’s, and someone else. Character study, deep information on this man. Rio was thought to be involved but it was very circumstantial.

She went to her bedroom and grabbed her file. The one her contacts had gathered on Rio. She opened her bottle of bourbon and took a sip.

It was going to be a long night.

 

-

 

“Mom, mom, mom” she heard someone screaming and felt her bed trembling under her. Opening her eyes was hard and the light coming through the window made her head ache.

“Shit! What’s happening?”

“Uh, Bethie? I brought Emma over, she wanted to see you.” Dean was calmly saying. Her baby girl was jumping next to her, two pigtails and her bunny at hand. “She had a nightmare and she wanted to tell you about it. I tried to- she insisted.”

Beth brought herself up and tried to appear alive. What time was it?

“Hi, sweetheart, Mommy was just taking a nap.”

“It’s three in the afternoon, I thought it would be okay to bring her for a while, I-“.

“What is it, mommy? The box on your bed” her little girl asked, pointing to the black box with a big gray bow on it. “Is it a gift? Daddy said not to open it without you.”

It took her a few seconds to understand the situation. Emma was looking at her, waiting. Dean was still at the door.

“Dean?”

“She wanted to see you before the party at grandmas. I told her you were busy, but you know her.”

“Can I open, mom?”

“Yes, bunny, you can.”

She knew what it was. It was a box from a very expensive boutique. She had shopped there before. They made very beautiful dresses from dinner to high-end parties. It had been a favorite of her back when she was a teenager, going to parties with her father. She loved it since then and even more now. She knew the suburban life didn’t call for those dresses, although once upon a time Dean and she threw amazing dinner parties, but she liked to shop there sometimes. Back when Dean hadn’t lost all her money, she liked feeling expensive and putting a dress that hugged her curves.

She had been wearing one yesterday, a more somber dress, but one of her favorites. She remembered Rio pushing up her body, touching her.

He read her like an open book, alright.

Emma opened it and there it was, a beautiful red dress. It was an evening dress, much more intricate than the black one she had used yesterday. It was for the party.

“It’s pretty” Emma said, smiling at her, blue eyes sparkling. “Mommy put it on. It’s a princess dress.”

“Are you going to a party?” She had forgotten Dean was there.

“Dean, could you excuse us. Just wait downstairs, I’ll handle Emma.” She said. “Close the door.”

He did, a little against his will, and she got up, locking the door. Emma was holding the dress in front of her, looking mesmerized.

“I always say to everyone you are a princess, mom. But auntie Ruby said you are a queen.”

“Yes, and that makes you a princess, bunny.” Emma smiled.

“Miguel said Elizabeth was a queen, with hair like yours. Can we see Miguel, mom? I miss him.”

“Of course, bunny. Sorry mommy was away this week, I had to do some grown-up stuff, okay?”

“Mary said her mom told her you and daddy don’t love each other.”

Shit.

“Bunny, it’s hard to explain.”

“Daddy hurt you. I remember you crying. I don’t like when you cry.”

Beth looked at her baby. She sat on the bad and got Emma on her lap.

“Mommy and daddy, we- we still love you. We love all of you just the same. Daddy will have another house that you can visit, and you’ll have two rooms. But nothing is gonna change.

“I love you, mom.”

“I love you, princess.”

“The dress, mom!”

She laughed and took the dress from her daughter’s hands. It was pretty. It had a tight bodice that would hug her curves and accentuate her breasts and this soft flowy fabric going down in darker tones of red. The sleeves falling, leaving her shoulders bare.

It was a perfect fit. Of course.

Emma was smiling at her.

“You look pretty.”

“Thank you, bunny.”

“Mom, I dreamed you were gone.”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m not going anywhere. Mommy just needs to fix some things, so you guys can come back home.”

“Aunt Annie was scared one day. She worried about you with aunt Ruby. That you would be gone.”

“No, aunt Annie was wrong, Em. Mommy is here, and everything will work out. Tomorrow, tomorrow we can have pancakes and I’ll take you to see Miguel.”

“Okay.”

“And then we can watch a movie before bed, mommy can make popcorn and we can have pizza.”

Emma looked at her, smiling.

“I can choose!”

“Yes.”

“Okay, mommy. Tell Danny and Jane it’s my turn. They always choose and are mean. Kenny likes me.”

“They all like you.”

“But they don’t like the princess.”

“We can watch all the princess movies you want, baby. Now we better talk to your dad. Just remember what I said, okay? Mommy is not going anywhere.”

“Good.”

“Now give me a kiss” she asked, and Emma put her chubby arms around her neck and kissed her twice in each cheek.

Her sweet little girl, so precious, so kind. Of all her children, she was the one that made Beth reminisce of her old family life. She was kind like Annie, wise like her dad, so thoughtful like her mom. All the others were too much like Dean or like her now. Emma had the mischief she used to see in her eyes back in the day.

But she had to be careful. Elizabeth was still here, but she had kids now. A family. People that depended on her. Things her enemies could use against her.

After she changed to something more comfortable, Emma held her hand and guided her down the stairs. Dean was there, looking like a puppy, probably just wanting their old life back.

Too late.

Emma went to the backyard to play with buddy and Beth looked at her soon-to-be-ex-husband.

“No.”

“What?”

“You’re not coming back, Dean.”

“Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“As if you didn’t sleep with other people, Beth?”

“Back in college when the two of us used to have fun in your dorm occasionally? Sure. Not since my father gave me away at our wedding.”

“What about bounce-house guy? Tell me he didn’t fuck you.”

“He didn’t fuck me. And even if he did, consider the day you lied about having cancer the day of our separation. Now I’m just waiting for the divorce papers and a license from the Pope to call myself single again.”

“Why are you joking about our marriage like this? Thinking about divorce? Twenty years, Beth. Twenty years together, with a home, a business, four kids and a dog.”

“A business that you build with my money and then ruined because you are an inept business man. You never asked me for help, you never respected me. I went to Yale, I took business classes, I am a lawyer. I never realized how you used to micromanage me. Pushing me down. I simply don’t remember why I said no to the position on the firm. I wanted to be with my kids, but they were very interested and said I could work flexible hours. But no, you made me feel unworthy.”

“Beth-“

“No, Dean. You don’t get to talk. Every time I took interest in something you brought up the kids. The business, a part time job, every time you fucked us over, you said to me: think of the kids, Beth. It was you who drove me into depression every single time I came back from visiting my father’s grave. I already had lost so much, and you used that to make me dependable of you. “ _Who else is going to tuck them in or bake cookies?”_ , you’d say. Well, fuck you.  I’m tired. This is not me. I’m not Beth Boland. I’m not Bethie, I hate this name. I’m Elizabeth, Dean. I’m no longer your wife.”

“I’m not going to give up on us like that.”

“Fine, litigation it is.”

“You going to find yourself in trouble, Beth. Tattooed guys with guns beating me up. You, fucking dealing with crime. Fake money, Botox and-“.

“You better not try me, Dean. With this route.”

“The kids will suffer, Beth.”

“No, the kids will be fine. We are going to arrange everything so you can have then as much as I do. You can fuck all the barely legal blonds you want.”

“I don’t want him around my kids.”

“YOUR KIDS? They are mine! Mine! I carried them for nine months, reading them stories, singing. I breastfed; I was there for them even when sometimes I didn’t want to even be alive. I cut off the crusts of their sandwiches, I took them to school, talked to teachers, I grounded them when needed. All you did was to work late, probably fucking your secretaries and play with them. I chased monsters away, I tucked them in, I told them about the ups and downs of life. All you did was complain when I wanted time for myself, because you didn’t want to “babysit” that night. Wake up, Dean. They are your kids and you better start doing some of the work.”

“Beth, that’s not-.”

 “Dean, no. Look. I’m done. If you get between me and my kids, I will end you. This is an intervention. The business, I’ll investigate everything. I’ll comb that dealership until every drop of your mistakes are known. I’ll give your name to the authorities for fraud, along with your fake doctor, that won’t be happy to lose his side business. Don’t try me, Dean.”

“I’m not giving up, Beth. If you want him, I’ll make sure you’ll be carrying the Boland name for as long as I can. I’ll make sure the kids won’t approve.”

“Just get out.”

“No, Elizabeth. It’s my house too. I’m moving back in.”

_She hates him. She despises him. All she wants is to scream that he is just a disguise. Just a boring stamp on her new life. An undercover mission prop._

But she didn’t say anything like that. She was tired.

“Just don’t step foot on my bedroom, or I’ll make a scene so big all the neighbors will know I’m fucking around. I’ll destroy what matters to you, Dean. Your reputation. Don’t think I don’t know that you used to brag to the guys here that you had the sexy wife. That you paraded yourself, drunk, mumbling about me, my body, all these disgusting things to feel good. Wouldn’t they like to know that you never knew what to do with said body, huh? That you moaned above me and rolled to sleep while I was left there, nauseous and unsatisfied. That I only discovered good sex when I almost came sucking _him_ off yesterday, huh?”

She wasn’t surprised his reflex was to slap her. He had never abused her with anything beside words, but she knew he would get angry sometimes, specially when other men questioned why she was with him. Dean never passed on the image of the typical hot stud that made woman go wild. She knew everybody talked about them. She knew he used to get angry and yell at her when they would come back from a party at someone’s house and the guys would talk about her to him. She knew by the way he pestered her to have sex afterwards and how angry he would get when she refused.

His misogynistic ways went way further than her working and not living as a house wife to accomplish his every need. He believed he was entitled of sex whenever he wanted. He would sometimes start to get forceful and she would cave and just used everything she had to just get him off her as soon as possible.

It wasn’t a surprised when he was extremely pissed off about his wife doing something she rarely did for him on another man. The she sucked him off and liked it. Him. A man that beat the hell out of Dean. A man he probably knew she wanted so much.

What was a surprised was how she had his forearm on a tight grip, his hand inches away from her face. How she was squeezing, stopping circulation.

“I can tell you a lot, about the way I let him fuck my mouth, grab my hair, about how everything he did turned me on. His groans, the way he whispered my name. His taste. The way he touched me afterwards. How I came when he told me to, how he did that with only his fingers, but I would even with just his voice. How he did that in no time, a thing you never did.”

“You said-“.

“No, he didn’t fuck me. Yet. But he will, Dean. It doesn’t matter if it’s going to be today, tomorrow or a year from now. It’s gonna happen, there’s no stopping this. And when he does, he’ll be everywhere. All over me, my body. I’ll make sure to ride him on our bed, make up some new memories, erase all the moment’s I laid there waiting to just be over already.”

They heard steps and Emma looked at them, confused. She let his hand go and smiled at her daughter.

“I’m hungry.”

“Daddy is going to take you to your grandparents, isn’t he? You know how your grandma’ food is amazing, huh, sweetie?”

“Yeah, dad promised he would ask her for a cake.”

“Go with your father, honey. Mommy must get ready for this adult boring party she has to go to.”

“Ok. Daddy, can we get ice cream to eat with the cake?”

Dean looked at Beth like he could kill her. And then smiled at Emma and grabbed her.

“Sure, kid. Anything you want. You know daddy does everything for you, right? Tell mommy how you love to spend time with daddy.”

“Mommy knows this, daddy. Can we go, please?”

“Yeah. We are finished here. See you later, Mrs. Boland” he said and was out of the door.

Beth grabbed the first photo of him and threw it against the wall. Son of a bitch. If he wants war, he’ll have it.   

Going back to her room, she grabbed the dress on the bed. And then she noticed that there was a card on the box.

_Elizabeth._

_You look damn good in black, but I like to see you in red. Nothing less for a queen._

Shit.

All the research she did, it went nowhere. She grabbed her phone. There was nothing she could do against him. She wanted him everything be damned. She was his and she couldn’t imagine killing him even if he was the one that pulled the trigger on her father.

To Agent Turner: _Deal is off._

She dropped her phone on the bed and went to the bathroom. A bath was what she needed. Got the water up to her standards, grabbed a glass of wine and just relaxed. She needed to be perfect. It was the least she could do, help Rio show that he’s still on top.

After the long bath, she took a quick shower to rinse off the bubbles and put on a robe. She did her beauty routine and put on this sexy dark red lace paintings she had purchased a few days prior to the whole truck debacle. The dress hugged her body well and left very little to the imagination, so she wouldn’t need a lot.

She put her hair up, she wanted to show her shoulders and neck. Make up a little heavier than her usual, it was a party after all. Dark red lips, on the theme. She put the dress on, a little bit of perfume and her black stiletto heels.

Elizabeth was dress to impress, she wanted everyone looking at her and thinking about it, the power she was exuding. But the thing she wanted the most was to catch Rio’s eyes. To fill him with temptation and desire. To make him want to finish what they started right there.

To punish her for what she had done last week, but also thank her for yesterday. To just make her his once and for all.

When she was ready, she started gathering her things. He said he was going to pick her up, so she wouldn’t need her car keys. Just her cell, ID, the basics on a little purse.

She put on her coat and grabbed a small knife and hid on her garter in her right thigh. A lot of weird people would be there, criminals. There was always a chance of someone recognizing her when dealing with this kind of people. Also, Turner was probably going to be there.

Looking at the clock, she was nervous. Her cell vibrated. It was probably Rio, telling her he was on his way.

From Agent Turner: _Are you sure?_

His message was followed by a photo.

A younger looking Rio, and his friend Diego, with Joaquim Gonzalez. Shaking hands.

Another one. There they were. Planning something. With Joaquim.

One of them looking older, eating dinner. She recognized the place; it was this restaurant downtown that was apparently owned by Joaquim. She had looked at photos of it and rumors of what they did there.

Another one: Rio and Diego, being initiated at the cartel. This one came with the date. 15 years ago. Her dad was still alive.

And Rio had lied to her.

Her phone was ringing. It was Turner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, she likes to play with fire that woman.   
> I think she is very possessive of him and also she reads like a woman who likes to punish people. So Turner is a asshole here too, but I want to make him more than the typical good guy to Rio's bad.   
> Shit, law enforcement is not always the hero.   
> Also, loved that he likes men too, because that was totally my headcanon for him, but I want him to be obsessed with Beth beyond the physical level.   
> Tell me what you think and I promise to try and get the next chapter quickly because I already have it mostly mapped out.  
> Amen to ending writing blocks, man. -xx


	11. Diving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “FBI is here, son.”  
> “I know, I- I’ll be right back.”  
> The guy came closer and gave them a look, accessing the situation. The shadows moved away from his face and she was left staring a pair of cold grey eyes.  
> “So that’s what you’re doing. Never thought I’d see the day. Huh. Have fun, but be discreet will you, my daughter will be here any moment now. She won’t like to see you with some whore.”  
> Rio’s jaw tensed and he seemed to put himself between Elizabeth and the man. The man that was becoming awfully familiar the closer he came to them, the clearer the light made him.  
> No.  
>  _Joaquim Gonzalez._  
>  “I’mma need you to go, Joaquim.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was adamant that I wasn't going to let season 2 get in the way of this, but damn these characters are getting on my nerves. I have the major plot twists planned since last year, and sometimes I was maybe thinking what these characters did to deserve this (you'll see, maybe, if I ever get there), but damn, now, for some, I'm thinking they got off too easy. (See rant on the end notes lol)  
> I just want to say that obviously some circumstances made that it took so long for me to finish this chapter, even though it was almost ready. I was so uninspired to write for this. Like, I don't know if it is going as well as I wish and it's very, idk, stationary or something. And then the own show was getting on my nerves. I still love it, but man it frustrates me how they try to justify some really sketchy things just because the girls are criminals. Turner is witch-hunting Beth, destroying Stan and he's just as bad if not worse than them (he's a federal agent using lower position employees to pass on his agenda). Noah is a disgusting pseudo-rapist getting the "oh but i fell in love" excuse. For a relatively progressive show about powerful and independent women, this season had a lot of toxic/abusive moments they gave a pass for.  
> Anyways.  
> I promised myself I was going to finish this, even though it's one of the things I least want to do for now.  
> And I promised myself I was going to post this chapter before the end of the season, so I'm running against the clock here and it might not be as good as I wanted, but I can always check later for some shit I might have overlooked.  
> I guess enjoy then.  
> Sorry again for the rant, I just want to contextualize the feel for this chapter and the future of the characters, cause I can't control my writing lol  
> Also, all comments and ideas (and rants and critics and wishes) are appreciated, cause I'm for sure lost.
> 
> tnx :*

The first time Elizabeth had sex in exchange of secrets, she went to her checkpoint after, Jason in her ear, cum drying under her dress and confirmed that everything was okay.

She had expected to cry herself to sleep, to feel cheap and used and awful. To everyone, she was a perfect girl. Had a boyfriend, a best friend, amazing parents and a beautiful little sister. Was the top of her class, a studious and dedicated girl in one of the most prestigious universities in the world. To the eyes of everyone she was a somewhat innocent, good family, a religious girl that probably would only sleep with the man she would marry (even though before that she had hopped in the bed of various partners around the world – embassy kids and their ephemeral way to live life, even though she never once went to church, besides an occasional mass with her grandmother).

Yes, people would watch her in the library, always dressed hiding the luscious curves her body had developed, quiet in the corner, blue eyes so detached and almost timid. She almost never frequented campus parties. She was never seen at the pub. Had almost no friend. No one would see Elizabeth Marks outside class, and occasionally some study-related events.

Rumor was it that she had a boyfriend out of state. Her roommates, first year, said they almost never saw Elizabeth there. Coming back second year, she went to a new room, different roommate. The girl was like her, a mystery, but they didn’t seem to overlap much.

And then they were together everywhere, disappearing sometimes. Classmates would tell they were probably having an affair and the ever so unattainable Elizabeth became even more impossible to obtain.

So, she colored people surprised when she was seen by some girls in a high-end party in New York, flirting with an older man. She was different, more confident and self-imposed, dressed like a fine seductress in a well-fitted black number that left little to the imagination. She was in the arm of the same man all evening and her hair was almost platinum blonde, but they were sure it was her. The girls couldn’t tell why she was blonde, maybe she was an escort? High-end prostitute? The only thing they could say was that the sweet, pure and delicate Elizabeth was eying her date with tigress eyes, a wicked smile on her dark red lips.

Then, a couple guys on her econ class saw her back late that night, walking shoeless to her dorm, porcelain skin all marked, lipstick a mess and hair falling off the small bun on her head.

Those rumors didn’t cross paths. The guys on econ told some others that maybe Elizabeth did like to party, and they all waited anxiously a day that she would appear on any fun gathering on campus. The girls told the others and they finally had a reason to openly judge her. It was known among their group that she was a whore. They would save this information in case of a move in her part. She wasn’t little miss perfect. They would whisper around her, never realizing she could hear them and that the small smile on her lips was from satisfaction.

Because when she got to the safety of her dorm and got under the spray of scalding water, she felt powerful.

Like she had never felt before. Sure, she liked to subdue the man she’s been with, causing them blinding pleasure and making them even stupider. But she felt even more now.

She had never understood the appeal of sex. Sure, it was something that made you feel good and sometimes when she was high-strung enough, she would take the edge off. It was almost mechanical ways to solve a biological issue. But she never craved anything.

But now she had found an use for sex. A way that made her high on adrenaline and so pleased. Like the results Ruby would tell her a night with Stan would to her.

Elizabeth had never felt the need to ravish someone before. Well, she had felt all her body hot one evening, talking to this boy during a game of chess, the way he looked at her behind his long lashes.

It was the exception. But now, now she had felt like she finally had found a purpose for it. Men loved her for it, and finally, she could see a reason to do it.

She felt unstoppable.

 

-

“I’m happy you accepted my offer, Mrs. Boland.” Turner said when she closed the door of the car. They were both on the back and she recognized the driver as one of the agents on his team. Thomas, maybe?

When she looked at him, it was a little shocking to see him in a so beautifully fitted tuxedo. He was obviously dressed to the nines for this party. Turner was a aesthetically pleasing man, even though he wasn’t her type. As Annie said before, she liked people who were in a position of power.

To his nuisance and annoying habits of following her with threats and demands, he didn’t frighten or overpower her. She gets his points and worry about his meddling, but he’s more of an obstacle that she wishes wasn’t there, but even if it is, there will be no stopping her.

Elizabeth had worked with powerful people. With trained killers that did not hesitate on pulling the trigger. That knew how to speak multiple languages and blend in any crowd, change personalities, endure torture, survive in the wilderness with almost no resources. She worked with egomaniacs with narcissistic tendencies that were the best of the best and endured rough training. And even when she wasn’t working, she grew up in a world of philosophers, historians and ambassadors. Parties with royalty, aristocracy, crème de la crème of high society.

It was a surprise that he was planning on mingling with the party and not just make his presence known as a man of the law.

He noticed her look and grinned.

“Like what you see?”

“Fancy.”

“It’s a lot of powerful people that think they are above the law, Mrs. Boland. We must impress them, also make them see we have means to stop them. But I think we’ll have no problem doing that. Nice dress.”

“Husband’s credit card.”

“Nah. He doesn’t have that much cash. A dress like this? It has Castillo all over it.”

“You seem to know a lot about his preferences. And I can’t help but know a bit about yours. Is it him? It bothers you that we are both so attracted to a criminal like him? His allure affects you that much. Playing this game of cat and mouse with him, does it incite you?”

Turner laughed.

“You are getting mixed signals, Mrs. Boland.”

“Sure” She said, letting it clear to him she didn’t believe his every word like he would like her to.

“I’m not a cat.”

“Oh, no. Don’t get me wrong. I know you’re not a cat.” She said to him, all smiles. His look was cold.

“Keep doubting me, Beth. One moment you’ll see the truth and you’ll know I’m right. But as of right now, you chose the right path.”

“I felt as if you didn’t leave me much choice. I wanted to know more. Rio knew Joaquim, he did initiate for the cartel, but claims he never worked for him. If they have no such ties, why do you believe he knows about my father?”

“Because my boss knew everything there was to know about Gonzalez. He knew that Gonzalez lost a son too young. His only one. Rio was his friend; kid was more like what Gonzalez would’ve liked his son to be than his own. Gonzalez wanted Castillo to step up and work for him. A merger of sorts.”

“And what this have to do with my father?”

“He was very involved with the police militia back in South America. He wanted someone to command his men for a while, during his investigation about his son murder. A cartel war was starting. We believe Rio ran the operations for Gonzalez. After your father was shot, during defining times in Brazil, he had some names, important for the operations. He knew too much. They wanted to place allies all over the government there, control the favelas. All the arms dealing and drug trafficking. Prostitution, even human traffic. Children.”

“So my father realized some party in Brazilian politics was actually a front from illegal deals all over America, coming in to the US?”

“That’s what we have, yes. Except he decided he didn’t want to work for us to uncover the story. He used to protect you guys, with the divorce and everything. Years later, Gonzalez stepped down from the throne when his son got killed. We don’t know who filled in for him, but Rio had a reputation of a fixer and someone who was very good dealing with problems like that. We believed Gonzalez gave him the keys to the kingdom, alongside with his blessing for him to marry his daughter.”

Beth felt a sting inside her when he mentioned Daniella. But something wasn’t right.

“But why he didn’t marry her then?”

“That we don’t know.”

Oh, James Turner.

He was trying to manipulate her.

Not on her watch.

“Maybe Castillo got too greedy. We know they had a feud back then. After all the ordeal with the son’s murder, Gonzalez came back. He always had some competition, but he didn’t like the name Rio was building for himself.”

“Because Rio became too big?”

“He was apparently a manager for all things crime or something. We don’t know exactly what they do, Mrs. Boland. That’s why we need you. We know he is involved with all this crime, but there’s no proof. He has too many legit business dealings with all these moguls.”

That she knew. Rio had told her. But she wasn’t about to tell Turner that. She didn’t trust him. A badge meant nothing in a world where you could go one night as a savior and the other as a criminal. A hero and villain. The hunter and the prey. She had seen too much shit happen to her team. She had known people that had infiltrated an organization so deep that they had to do the unspeakable to maintain appearances. People who put a bullet through their brain coming back or just didn’t.  

Turner could be a ticking bomb for all she knew. He tried to appear noble, but he had his interests in her. She knew that his hunt of Rio had become personal.

“What makes you think he would tell me about that? If I’m just a suburban wife he fucks when he’s not playing house with the daughter of a criminal empire? Why would he tell me anything?”

“You could make him.” He said.

But Elizabeth knew he knew. He is obsessed with Rio now. So he must know what she means to Rio. It made her heart wonder if maybe he was successfully manipulating her away from him. That he had nothing to do with the cartel and Turner was just playing her.

It was an option, but she was willing to risk anything to get to the bottom of this. She almost wished that was the truth. That he was trying to turn her against Rio. That he knew what she meant to him, so having her was like a secret weapon. Like the ace up his sleeve.

But there was too much doubt between them. Rio was as much a mystery to her than she was to him. They knew nothing about the other besides what they could read on the surface. What their bodies told.

In fact, she just didn’t know if she had made the biggest mistake by showing up to this party with Turner.

It was petty, but she wanted Rio to be angry. Be jealous. To realize that if he wanted her, it would be on her terms as well. That he would have to embrace her as a equal and they would have to achieve mutual trust on each other, that they would not deceive or try to own one another. That she would be his queen for everything. Not just a consort.

“I don’t think anyone can make Rio do anything besides what he wants.”

Turner looked angry.

“C’mon, Mrs. Boland. Don’t be weak.”

Her blood boiled. She felt the knife, cold metal against her thigh. In a few movements she could end them. She’d cut Turner’s throat and use the gun on his shoulder holster on Thomas, before he could even turn to see what happened.

But it was just not worth it.

She needed Turner. For one, he was oblivious too a lot of things. He also was too emotional. If he dies, it’s another on his place and now the case has a murder on it. He doesn’t know about them, about Ruby and Annie. But another could.

Turner was too invested on this. He also cares too much about Rio. About hurting him, using her against him.

He also underestimated her.

Big mistake.

 

-

       

“Wow. Now that’s a man that put a lot of thought and effort on his looks. I’ve been on your living room for over an hour, but it was worth it to see you going down the stairs. Took you long enough, we are gonna be late. Bride late. But damn, you look pretty, man.”

“Stop flirting with me, Diego.”

“I’m not flirting, I’m making jokes at your expense. I waited 35 years to see you in love, I’m just enjoying. You, making yourself presentable to your lady friend.”

“I will always regret the day I gave you free access to my place. Fuck off.”

“So I take it everything went fine yesterday. Not _that_ fine, because it doesn’t look like you spent your night having make-up sex. But you don’t have that murderous look in your eye.”

“Turner was there when I arrived. He’s meddling too much, if he continues like this I’mma make him pay.”

“Just stop with getting us in trouble with the FBI, Rio. Girl looks at you like you hung the moon or somethin’. Turner is just trying to make you angry, so relax. She robbed the FBI for you, the probability of her and Turner working together is almost void. Your Elizabeth is probably playing him as well.”

“I don’t like him, the way he looks at her, the way he crowds her, going after her every single day.”

“You gotta trust her, man. If you want her to be your girl and whatnot. Even more if you want her for a queen.”

“I ain’t sure about that no more.”

“If she wanted to, she coulda delivered your ass to Jimmy. Everything she saw, cut off a great deal for her and her lady friends. She woulda told him about Canada, about the boys, about the warehouse. But no, she only gave him a minor location that we didn’t even use as much. A grocery store that wasn’t even on our top ten primary locations of work.”

“’Cause she didn’t know the others, Diego.”

“The girl broke into the FBI, Rio. She clearly has more resources than we originally thought, right?”

“That is a problem, yeah? I don’t know her as well as I thought I did.”

“You know _her,_ alright. You just don’t know about that part of her life. You can know all about a person, but don’t know what made her like that.”

“She ain’t ready to tell me either. But if I have her, I want all of her.”

“No one ever started a relationship by telling all their lives in detail. I know that because I’ve had serious relationships before, unlike you.”

“Shit’s hard.”

“If it was easy it would get boring.”

“I feel like an idiot, yeah? Bitch does all the things she wants to me, with me and all I think about is that body of hers, those eyes, even when she got me arrested, I was on a rampage. I wanted to hurt. Got to her house and saw that idiot car man there, waiting. Guy told me it was their anniversary, that they was supposed to celebrate. I wanted to break him, so I did. She got there and I was supposed to just kill her. But instead I gave her the gun, she knew she had me. I just wanted to fuck the disobedience out of her.”

“No shit. Lemme tell you one thing, Rio. You pulled the trigger for a lot less than that. You are a hot-headed sadistic fuck that blow up knees for lesser mistakes. You gotta love her a lot if she’s still alive. Not even once the guys asked me to intervene so you wouldn’t put a bullet in the suburban bitch’s brain.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, they all gossip about the two of you like _mami_ and _madrina_ in family functions. They like her, prison put aside.”

“ _You_ , _mami_ and _madrina_ , is what you mean.”

“Whatever.”

“We better be going, yeah. You drive?”

“I ain’t driving you both like a _chauffeur_ while you get handsy in the back like two teenagers going to prom.”

“Funny.”

“I’m serious.”

“We ain’t picking Elizabeth up. She texted, said she would meet me there, something about taking too long to get ready.”

“She wants to do an entrance. Get everyone’s attention. Yours, especially.”

“Elizabeth would have my attention alright. Doesn’t matter all that.”

“Yeah, and then you guys wouldn’t go to the party at all. I saw the dress you asked Veronica to get for her. She told me you chose and did all of it, she just went to the shop to get it. Texted me a picture.”

“You ain’t got more important shit to do? Should I get worried that you spend your free time gossiping with my baby sister about my love life?”

“She’s curious. She ain’t like Carmen, Veronica thinks you should date more. Said your mother always bugs them about finding you someone so she can get grandchildren.”

 “We ain’t good just yet. We gotta talk. I have a feeling she ain’t looking forward to it. For real, I have a feeling we ain’t good for each other.”

“Why the fuck not? You ain’t a bad person, she ain’t quite the good girl. Stop trying to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, Rio. The world’s not black and white. There’s a lot of “good” people, law-abiding and shit that ain’t that good of a human being. There people like us, survivors, leaders, _businessmen_ , that _actually_ have morals. Wanna remember why we ain’t working for the cartel again?”

“Because it’s too much trouble.”

“Yeah. But also, because they don’t play by _our_ rules, by _padrino’_ s rules. They take what they want, when they want. That means money, that means lives, favors, services. That means people. Women. Children.”

“Shit.”

“Or don’t you remember our friend Juan? _El azul_ , I believe he was called. Your uncle Miguel was named after one too, they called him _El Padrino_ , he was the leader before Joaquim took over. All of them, dead. Their wives, tortured, raped. Their kids- you know damn well we ain’t cartel material. Joaquim wanted you, Rio. But your family raised you better than that. There is a line we have, and we don’t cross it. They don’t have it.”

“I know all that, Diego. But she doesn’t.”

“She must, if she still loves you. You put her in a pedestal, but she wants _you_ , Rio. Even after you yelled at her, put a gun to her head multiple times, tricked her. You told her to go after she threw keys at your face.”

“You all was watching from the outside camera.”

Diego looked at him like he was an idiot. Obviously, he was watching. Diego meddles just as much as a mother.

“Of course, I was watching, geez. And she arrested you, Rio. And all you did was beat the hell out of her husband. Whatever, dude. You want her too much, but you respect her. A bad man woulda already taken her. Cartel men. A good girl that sees the world as black and white woulda fled first sign of danger. She wouldn’t leave her pearls as a token in a gang leader’ warehouse. As a promise.”

“How do you know-“.

“Carlos. Rio, as if you don’t know the guys prefer me over you. I know everything about everything. Gimme ten minutes with your Elizabeth and I’ll know a lot more.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Now let’s get to this party. I was meant to be drunk already.”

 

-

 

Turner’s stare was almost burning her. She could feel it even looking through the window and avoiding him. It made her self-conscious, her arms crossed in front of her, trying to maintain her coat as an armor.

“You are too quiet, Mrs. Boland. Cat got your tongue?” He asked her, voice full of dare, like he wants her to just explode and scream at him.

“I don’t like small talk, specially with people I don’t trust.”

“So I guess you don’t know anything good about Castillo after all. I believe that you don’t _talk_ much.”

For a man with that much pride about his integrity and shit, he’s awfully offensive towards her. Almost like he thinks that making her feel unwanted or dirty for being with Rio would make her open to him, cry on his shoulders.

Well, he didn’t know her.

Because all she wanted was to punch the smile off his face.

“And so I’ve been saying.”

“And even then, I’m having a hard time believing you.”

“Why’s that? You’re the one that’s always telling me that I’m just the mistress. Why would a guy that has a cartel girlfriend tell his illegal dealings to his suburban bitch?”

She could almost see the angel and devil on his shoulders, see him process what she said to choose the right answer for what he wanted.

“He sees something special in you.”

“And you think is sex, right? That men look at me and they think that I have great tits and a great ass, so I must be a bombshell. Then I fuck their secrets out of them. I must be good right, to gain all this attention.”

“Castillo is not that smart when it comes to women.”

“Then why haven’t you arrest him already?”

Elizabeth knew she touched a nerve when Turner eyes darkened, and his jaw muscles tensed. He had his right hand in a fist, circulation be damned.

“Mrs. Bo-“.

“I mean, you don’t give me or Rio too much credit, but still, here you are, following me like a puppy. You say he doesn’t care about me, but don’t let me go. You come to my house and throws all this information at me, trying to turn me against him. You contradict yourself, Mr. Turner.”

“Agent Turner.”

“I’m not stupid.”

“Never said you were.”

“But you thought. You thought _poor housewife, fucked and tricked by a criminal. She must be so stupid that she doesn’t see he cares about her, so I’ll just keep feeding her insecurities. She’ll turn on him, she’ll be doing what I want._ Your plan was good, Jimmy. But you underestimated a variable: me.”

“Elizab-“.

“I said not to call me that. It was luck. You were gonna try and manipulate me some other way, but running background checks you found my father. If the Gonzalez cartel is involved, you hit jackpot.”

“There’s no if.”

“Maybe. Maybe the cartel did try and kill my father, but I know-“.”

“How do you know so much? You disappeared on a car crash same time your father showed up dead. With your uncle that has redacted all over his life. You are a complex read. And not as clueless as you make yourself to be.”

“Are you trying to blame me for my father’s death?”

“You were estranged, weren’t you? There was a divorce, you were the only one in the funeral, not affected much.”

“Stop the car, Jim.”

“C’mon, Mrs. Boland. Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time. You involved yourself is this, with his criminal. I can put you up in a stand any time, under oath. Your real past for all to see, perjuring yourself and destroying your father’s legacy.”

“STOP THE CAR!”

“Keep driving, Thomas.”

“I’ll jump. I don’t care.”

“He’s ruining your life, Mrs. Boland. If I can’t have him, I’ll settle for you and it won’t be pretty. All those years away from your kids. How much is little Emma again? Maybe you’ll be out in time for graduation.”

“Is that the way you think you can get me to help you?”

“I’m just showing, that I’m the one that’s offering you an out. If you dismiss me, others will come in my place. You think I’m bad cop-.”

“I know interrogation tactics, Agent.”

“You know a lot about a lot, Mrs. Boland. _For a housewife._ ”

“Just because I spent the last few years caring for my family doesn’t mean I forgot everything that I’ve studied. My knowledge and my degree, no one can take away that from me. I’m not an airhead soccer mom. You’ve got no idea who those women are too.”

He looked at her and smiled.

“I like you.”

“Yet you won’t leave me alone.”

The car stopped.

“Ready?”

She didn’t answer.

“You know what. I said I liked you, huh. So I’m going to give you a gift, from one thoughtful person to another.”

“Does it involve leaving me alone?”

“If this is what you want.” He said and gave her an envelope. “It’s just a look, there’ll be more if you say yes.”

Inside the envelope were more photos. Photos she probably couldn’t find. Rio with Gonzalez. With Daniella.

The last one, though. It was her father and a young-looking Rio. His friend Diego, too. They were talking with her father. By the looks of it, it was a little before she came back and married Dean.

No fucking way.

“That’s fake.”

“Is it?”

Her father didn’t come to Detroit a lot. They had to be away for the divorce story to really take. He usually met her mother and Annie on other places. He came to Detroit occasionally, using events as excuses or just straight up disguising. They used to have a house outside of town, her father would go there and wait for them.

She had been there a few occasions. Annie liked it a lot. After her father died, her mother got rid of it. Annie got so angry she stayed with Beth for a while.

In time, her mother got rid of the other things that reminded her of Henry as well. Including her daughters.

Beth remembered that, having to console her little sister that she had lost both her parents in one go.

Annie was very close with their mother, almost as much as Beth was with Henry. Sometimes Beth got the feeling that if Sadie wasn’t born, Annie would’ve sunk along in depression.

Maybe depression was in their blood. Siena had it. She had it. Annie never looked it, but depression was a silent predator. Beth knew that. It got her after Danny like a punch in the gut, almost killed her after Emma.

She must have been so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t feel Turner taking the photos back, away from her.

“You can have them later.” He said, giving them to Thomas. “Shall we?” He asked, giving her his arm. She took a deep breath and nodded.

They got to the ballroom entrance and Turner gave his name.

“I’m sorry, there’s no James Turner on the list. Mr. Jones was very clear about unwanted guests. “

“We are friends of Rio Castillo” Turner said, smiling. He said he wanted everyone to know he was FBI, but apparently not since the beginning.

The guy gave them a look but didn’t budge. “I’m sorry.”

“Try again- “. Turner said, reaching for his pockets. Oh, God.

“Beth Boland? Is this name on the list?”

“Uh, Elizabeth Boland.”

“That’s me. Do I have the right for a plus one?”

“There’s no instructions here, thought you would be- “.

“Plans change.” She said, pulling Turner close to her and going through the door. The ballroom was very fancy, but the decor was minimalistic, with a lot of class. People were talking, dinner wasn’t served and apparently it was networking time.

She felt a shiver going through her body and she swallowed. God, she could feel his eyes on her, glued on her, burning. She followed that sensation, her eyes leveling up to see the bar, stopping at the two beautiful man in tuxedos. One of them she remembered as Diego, from the other night, coming with Daniella.

The other was looking at her like his eyes were the freshly opened gates from hell, the fire devouring her, making her breathless.

Shit.

“Looks like someone isn’t happy.”

“Shut up” she said, going along was Turner guided her down the stairs, hands on hers. He appeared to be walking towards Rio and Diego, but he made a detour and ended up in front of a good-looking man that seemed to be in his early fifties.

“Great party, Mr. Jones.”

“James Turner, I knew I would see you here today. I don’t know how you got in, though. Didn’t flash your credentials, otherwise it would have caused a commotion.”

“I’m just here to enjoy, Mrs. Boland here brought me as her plus one.”

“Mrs. Boland…”

“No, uh, Elizabeth, actually” she offered her hand and he took it, placing a light kiss on it.

“I think I haven’t met you yet. I would’ve remembered.”

“You’re too kind.” She said. He remembered her of her boss. He exuded powers and class, the kind of posture that demands respect from everyone in the room.

“I assume that you’ve been invited.”

“I- “.

“Your man Castillo got her an invitation, she decided to bring me along, you know. We have a lot to talk about tonight. It’s also a great cause.”

“Ah, Rio didn’t tell me he would be sponsoring your dinner, James. It was nice of him, after the little show you pulled with him days ago.”

“Wasn’t it?”

“Yes. He’s a nice guy, providing you with this opportunity after the embarrassment that was to do all that and come out with nothing. Maybe you can acquire some good experience from the great here tonight. Not a single failure, just success stories.”

Elizabeth smiled at the man.

“I play the game for the long run.”

“I’ve heard you had a minor setback. Had to reset, most of luck to you, Agent Turner. Ms. Elizabeth, I hope you like the evening. We’ll be having an silent auction later today. All of this to give our children a new and improved hospital.”

“Thank you, Mr. Jones.”

He tipped the invisible hat to them, eyeing Turner, sending him off with a confident smile.

“I think you don’t have the effect that you wish. Powerful people don’t always respond well to harassment. Especially unfunded, like yours.”

“Jones is not my goal here.”

“Aren’t you selective? Is Rio that bad or is just a personal vendetta to you? Because I don’t know anymore, you don’t look balanced for a guy of the law.”

“I didn’t bring you here for small talk, Mrs. Boland.”

“Guess what, Jimmy. You didn’t bring me here, period. I brought you. For you to be gone it will be just as easy as it was for me to get in. So, if you want to get a taste of this event and stalk your targets, you better keep me happy.”

He looked at her, annoyed. She knew she was revealing too much to him. She was supposed to play dumb and scared housewife, but she couldn’t. So much had happened in the last few days and she felt out of character for good. She spent many years immersed in the role of Beth Boland that she forgot the sound of her own voice inside her head. It was always laser focus to stay like that, in character. Now Elizabeth’s voice was too strong she couldn’t remember Beth anymore.

“Why don’t you be a dear and go get us a drink. I’m going to get some air.” She said, eyeing the doors she knew would give way to some garden type of place or just a balcony. She wasn’t familiar with the place, but she just wanted to get away.

Turner was gone in a second and she marched for the outside. Damn, that was a regret if she could recognize one. She shouldn’t have come. Everything about Turner was sketchy and she was being biased by her fears of getting on with Rio that she let that cloud her judgement. There was no way. The cartel might have tried to get to her father, but it was a punishment. To her. It’s not fair that after a decade of guilt she inflicted upon herself, that she had nothing to do with her father’s death.

“Care to explain what the fuck you trying to pull here, Elizabeth?”

Of course, he came after her. Wasn’t the reason she came here in the first place?

“I didn’t know I couldn’t bring a date” she said and flinched immediately. Shit, she sure knew how to make things worse by the second. Rio laughed, almost sounding like a defeat, but at the same time as an attack.

“That’s bullshit. You didn’t bring a fucking date, even after I told you that you were mine, Elizabeth. You brought Agent Turner, which left me to think what game you playin, you feel me?”

“I’m not playing games.”

“You robbed him, sweetheart. You was fine in my arms until Dani showed up. You jealous? Cause it’s a shitty thing to do just for your spoiled brat whims.”

How dare he?

“I- I’m not- “.

“A rich white girl that daddy gave everything to? I think you are. Then daddy became your pussy of a husband. If you think I’ll be like him, doing everything you want, you’re mistaken. I’m tired, Elizabeth. Let me be clear, yeah? I own you, and now I’m talking business. That shit stunt you and your girls pulled? Shit left you in debt. You will do what I say, when I say it, or I’ll be pulling stunts on you and I’mma promise you, you won’t like it.”

No fucking way.

“No.”

“You got rid of your rotten eggs, that’s a beginning. You didn’t do that the way I usually think is best, but I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. But their mess is yours to clean. Monday, you going to Canada again. Turner will probably be in your tail, so be smart. I don’t care how you do it, you’ll do it. Deliver what you got me, I’ll give you some cash to work, I want that by Sunday. Do what you must, don’t care how. You get 5%, call it a risk bonus. If you get caught, at least you can afford a lawyer of somethin’.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Do I look crazy, darling? I told you before, I’m the king. I changed the game ‘cause I can and you pull some shit, you sure as hell it will be punishment. You think you can suck me off and everything is forgiven? Then you betray me again. Oh, no, Elizabeth. I don’t concede pardon for mediocre head.”

Mediocre?

“What?”

“You are my bitch now, ma.”

“Dream on” she said, eyes full of fire. They were close, staring the other down and she could feel the heat. “We. Well, we are done.”

The vicious sarcastic laugh he did for a minute scared her.

“We’ll be done when I say so. When your pretty mom bod and innocent act can’t earn me nothing no more. I said I own you now, Elizabeth. You do what I say, and you expect nothing.”

“Get away from me.”

“Sure. See you Monday, darling. Don’t think waiting for me on your knees this time will do you any good, you’re not that kind of bitch no more.” He said and she did something that was a little reckless, hours later, thinking about it.

Her hand was burning a second later and it was imprinted on his face. His eyes were murderous and, shit, was that blood? Oh, her ring, right.

It took her a little while to wake up, but when she realized, his hand was closed around her arms, pulling her with no care whatsoever.

“Rio- “.

“Shut up, Elizabeth.”

 And with that he manhandled her in the direction of a deserted corridor or something. What the fuck? Oh God, was he gonna kill her? Here? With an FBI Agent in the premises?

No, he wasn’t stupid. Even though he probably owned everyone in the building (including her, apparently) and they could make it go away before Turner could even dream that she was gone.

Suddenly the knife in her thigh felt heavy against her skin. She was sure Rio was armed and she didn’t know him well enough during a fight to know if she could be faster with her knife if the situation came to that.

She could try and scream, maybe. Maybe Turner could hear her and then he would come here, Rio wouldn’t do anything.

But he must have seen in it coming, because the next thing she knew, he had her against the wall, body roughly pressed against her, hand over her mouth and the other grabbing her hair forcefully.

“Not a sound, sweetheart, or I can’t be held responsible for what I do.”

She had never let herself be handled the way he was doing right now.

“I- Please” she said, and he must still care for her at least a little, because he brought it down a bit. Now his hand was glued to her arm, a little forceful, but in a way that made her know she also had a choice. She could see it in his eyes, he would never hurt her.

“I’m not going to kill you, Elizabeth. Just- wait.”

In that she believed.

His eyes seemed sincere and the murderous streak that he was in after she slapped him was gone. Apparently, she could make him go from murderous to worried in a few seconds still. But also, vice-versa.

Now the only thing she wanted was to ask him for forgiveness or something. _Again._ She was stupid to believe in Turner. Right?

“ _Castillo_ ” they heard someone call for them and Rio froze for a second. “What the fuck you think you’re doing?”

A man, probably older than he looked, full of poise and exuding power was in the corridor door.

“Just gonna have a talk with this one.”

“FBI is here, son.”

“I know, I- I’ll be right back.”

The guy came closer and gave them a look, accessing the situation. The shadows moved away from his face and she was left staring a pair of cold grey eyes.

“So that’s what you’re doing. Never thought I’d see the day. Huh. Have fun, but be discreet will you, my daughter will be here any moment now. She won’t like to see you with some whore.”

Rio’s jaw tensed and he seemed to put himself between Elizabeth and the man. The man that was becoming awfully familiar the closer he came to them, the clearer the light made him.

No.

_Joaquim Gonzalez._

“I’mma need you to go, Joaquim.”

He looked at her, eyes undressing her, and she felt filthy. Nauseous. Disgusted.

“Have fun, son. Maybe later you can share her with some friends, huh?”

Again, Rio pulled her closer and his grip on her seemed to tighten. She could see a bit of the murderous spark back in his eyes and she didn’t know how to interpret.

He called him son. Twice. But Rio’s reaction was hostile towards him. Was it because of her?

Her body and soul trusted him. She trusted him with all her being, but there Joaquim was. Human scum. A true villain of the real world, a ruthless killer, abuser. _Criminal._

The guy that could have murdered her father. And now Rio might have something to do with her father’s death too, and that she can never forgive him for.

With Joaquim gone, Rio opened one door and she could see this big ass bathroom, with him pushing her inside and locking it.

They stared at each other for what it felt like minutes, just in silence. One just waiting for the other to talk.

“No.” She said. “I’m not- I’m not going to do that, please, Rio, I- “.

“Elizabeth, what you think you’re doing? Disrespecting me, again. Letting yourself to be paraded as his date.”

“It was not a date, God. Did you stop and think that maybe I didn’t want to be here? Like at all. That you got me in the cahoots with Turner and now he won’t leave me alone.”

“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want to be here. I thought I had been very clear that _you were mine._ You come here, with the dress I picked for you in the arms of another man. Have I not told ya I ain’t that magnanimous? Stop- “.

“You are a liar, Mr. Castillo. We’re done. You played me, I don’t know exactly why, for now, but there will be hell to pay. After everything you still think you have the right to feel like you own me or something. Let me make something perfectly clear, no one ever owned me, and no one ever will.”

“I might be gone for you, Elizabeth, but even then, I have limits, and you love to toy with them. I said before, I am the king and the respect I earn every day. I said to you that you would have to bite your tongue and stop being so damn infuriating all the time. What did I say, Elizabeth?”

It’s hell or high water, his eyes screamed. Fire underneath. They initiated their argument, each in a corner of the room, but with the screams they came closer and closer, like some magnetic force was attracting them to each other. Like it was from the first day forward. Like it still was even after they both fucked them up before they could ever be.

 _Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned_ , haven’t you heard?

“Go to hell. Now let me go” she said looking to the door. He was in her way to it and she was five seconds from taking the blade against her thigh and using it. Love be damned.

She’ll kill him without thinking twice about it. Even if all she wants right now is for him to fuck her against the marble wall.

“No, Elizabeth. For fuck’s sake, you impossible woman.”

“I’m free now, Rio. I’ve woken up and I won’t let any men tell me what to do. I won’t be like your Dani, a queen without a say, a pretty face in a beautiful dress, a distraction.”

What was she talking about? Dani wasn’t his queen, he never had one. That bastard Turner had been poisoning her against him. The prick had seen right through him, she was his weakness.

“Get away, Rio. I’m warning you.”

“Elizabeth- “. He never had the chance to say anything as she pushed him against the mirrored wall and tried to run for the door.

Oh, no way in hell he was getting this woman get away from him. This gorgeous, maddening woman who had him on his knees from day one.

He pulled her against him, her back against his chest, trying to hold her tight until she was less hysterical.

“Elizabeth, listen to me.”

“No” she was crying. Shit. He hated when she cried, but this time had him terrified, because now it looked so real, like all the other times had been just an act. She was blossoming right in front of him, a whole new Elizabeth that he saw lost and trapped in her heaven-like eyes.

“Don’t cry, dammit. You have to hear me, Elizabeth.”

She looked like the last thing she wanted was hear him. What the fuck did Turner had said to her?

“No, no, please let me go.”

“I can’t do that again, Elizabeth. I shouldn’t have done that on that day either. I should’ve pressed you against that truck right there and worshiped you like the goddess you are. I let my pride rule over my heart, I won’t do that again. _He_ can’t have _you_ , Elizabeth.”

She stopped crying and then, before he could even think, she had him on the floor, cut above the eyebrow and his back hurting.

What the fuck?

She tried to get away, but he had her on him, trying to hold her still against his body. She was pulling on him, on his clothes, trying to stabilize herself enough to have the upper hand. His hand was on her neck and she was pulling in his shirt, trying to get him off, button flying and fabric ripping. He was pressing against her more, when he felt again the blade against his side. The shallowest of cuts, just enough to surprised him so she could get away.

He was up and moving on her direction in no time, getting her away from the door, when she launched herself at him, moving like a weapon, so finessed, dangerous like a lioness, precision of a glorious warrior. In no time she had the knife in her hand pressing on his throat and him against the wall.

“I said let me go.” She said.

“You better kill me then. Cause the only way I’m letting you leave me again is if I’m dead on this floor.”

For a second, she pressed a little harder, he could almost feel the sting of sharp metal against his throat. The minute she hesitated was what he needed to switch positions, at least get the blade away from his neck.

He wasn’t expecting the series of punches she served in a smooth sequence, following a kick across his chest, getting him on the floor.

“Do not tempt me.”

“You are all talk, sweetheart. I don’t know what happened between last night and now, but you still want me too much.”

With that they both moved forward. It was almost like a perfectly synchronized dance, she came with the blade, like she was born with it. He felt the sting too many times, his arm, deep enough the let some blood flow stain his ripped shirt. There was other small cut on his cheeks and some shallow ones on his torso and back. She was fucking brutal, but somehow it felt like she was holding back, still.

In a particularly ruthless move, he had the blade taken away from her, flying to the other side of the room, near the window.

He didn’t want to hurt her, but her eyes were almost challenging him. That woman would be the fucking end of him, he swore.

All he was doing was trying to hold her still for a minute, but every blow she gave him, had his blood boiling.

Her smirk was almost permission. She was daring him to let himself go, so he did. Every move she did, he blocked. She was all rapid precision, blunt force and anger, and God damned him if he wasn’t a little turned on.

Seeing her blue eyes like a fucking storm, all dark and violent, was the confirmation he needed to see that she was too.

All he needed to turn this fight around.

“You said yourself you was going to demand fire from me, darling. No joke. But I’m getting tired of playing.”

He threw his body against hers and they ended up hitting the mirror covered wall again, now with such a force he heard the crack.

She tried to get away, but he trapped her body against it. She turned them and she drove his head against the glass, and he felt it break against him. Her hand was against his throat, but he still had some leverage. His hand went to the dress slit on her lower thigh, touching her warm skin, up until he got to what he assumed was the thigh scabbard that she kept her knife. He caressed her inner thigh and grabbed the sheath, pulling her against him, hand traveling up until he could feel the lace of her panties.

Her eyes were closed, and her head tilted back, so he used this to press her chest against the wall, her ass against his crotch and she could feel how hard he was, how gone for her.

“Elizabeth, this has been hot and all. You told me you weren’t afraid of the fire, the heat. But I’mma need some confirmation, yeah?”

She opened her eyes, looking at him through the cracked mirror, and smiled.

“Yes, just- do it.”

“Do what, mama? You have to be more specific”.

“Make me yours, Rio.”

With that, he bit on her neck, hard enough to hurt and pulled her head back by her messed up hair. She hissed and pressed herself against him.

“I think I’ll have to punish you a bit, sweetheart.”

“Do it.”

“This pretty dress, the moment I saw it, I knew it was made for you. I liked this slit up the leg, high enough to tease, easier to tear- “. He said and teared the fabric apart, exposing her with a slit going on her upper thigh. His hands, going back up to the inside of her thigh, getting the lace out of the way and then he was touching her, two fingers inside, curled and her eyes rolled beneath her lids.

Shit, there were fireworks inside her. Elizabeth never had any men making her feel like that.

Rio wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to punish her. He was so ruthless, she thought her body was going to explode. The force of his fingers, her chest still pressed against the broken mirror on the wall. His thumb found her clit and every movement of his hand was time with his hips, so she was pushed against the wall every time. His other hand pulled her head to rest on his shoulder.

“Say my name, Elizabeth.” He whispered in her ear.

She remained silent. He laughed against her neck and pushed her against the mirror harshly, trapping her, his body making pressure and added a third finger, rubbing against _the_ spot inside her, pulling her hair roughly.

“C’mon, sweetheart.”

There’s no way she would give him the satisfaction. He got his fingers of her just a second after she could feel her orgasm building and smiled through the mirror.

“Fuck you.”

“I’m trying, but, _again,_ you’re not obeying me, darling. This is punishment.”

Fuck him, she would do the job herself then. Her hand going between her body and the mirror and touching her body to find the release she needed. She could feel Rio’s breath against her neck when she worked herself up with her own fingers and felt his biting against her pulse point, his body trapping her. His hand followed hers and he stopped it there, letting the present of his touch linger on her.

“You can come now, Elizabeth. This time” he whispered against her and touched her clit, his other hand pressing against her breast and his lips on her neck.

Her body was his already, because she felt everything had never felt before. Her vision whitened and she tasted blood where she bit her lip so hard to keep from doing what he wanted. Saying his name. A part of her just wanted to oppose him. Punish him too.

“I thought we had come to an arrangement. I’ll have to remember you some more then.”

With that he completely ripped her black underwear, letting it fall to pieces, the ruined dark fabric against the white floor. Her dress was even more destroyed, and he pulled it up so he could have better access.

“You on the pill, right?”

She remembered vaguely hinting that to him the night before, between her pleas, before they were interrupted, when she just wanted to feel him inside her. She just nodded and after hearing him fumbling with his pants, she felt the intrusion and then did what he wanted. She screamed his name. The rhythm was just as punishing, making her jump forward, filling more and more trapped with which thrust.

“Dreamt about this for months. Thought I would wine and dine you first, not do it desperately after we almost killed each other.”

“This is more fitting” she said and then took a bit of control back, turning to face him. They were back on each other, now his tongue tasting her blood on their kiss, his kiss just as bruising as everything else and it was better than what she had every imagined. She turned and ripped the rest of his shirt open, buttons flying and clawed his chest, leaving red marks going down to his navel, pulling him back against her. His hands went from her waist to her thigh, caressing her skin and then pulling her leg up, having her lock herself in his waist, back inside her.

“Isn’t that right?”

“Just fuck me” she whispered, and he pushed her against the mirror again, her back hitting the glass wall again and again. His tongue tracing her lips and then devouring her, licking his way down her neck, biting her again as she screamed his name over and over, trailing down his back under his shirt with her nails, stinging, marking him. He pulled her hair again, exposing her neck even more, pressing his hands against it.

She clenched her walls against him the minute he took her breath away and she pressed her nails on his shoulders until she felt his blood, hot against her palm. He pressed again and she felt her orgasm coming.

No way. She never felt anything like this.

“Oh, God, Rio. Do it again.”

He obliged and then moved her. Bringing her chest against the marble in the sink and taking her from behind.

“I want you to watch, Elizabeth. What I can do to you. What you do to me. I want you to see that you are mine and I’m yours and there’s nothing you can do to change this.”

Shit. She couldn’t do this. There would be no turning back after this. She could feel him inside her, his body pressing against her, his breath against her neck, his hand on her hair and she looked up, looking for his eyes, watching her on the mirror and she felt like her blood went cold, but her body was on fire and everything went into shock. Her whole body was trembling, and she was feeling complete and like herself. Like she hadn’t felt in years.

“C’mon, mama, you know you want to, just let go.”

And she did. She moaned his name, feeling it branding her tongue and felt her body convulsing against his, her muscles contracting, and she felt lightheaded. Her vision blacked out for a few seconds and she felt him coming inside her. Her breathing was ragged, and she felt owned, just like he said, but also, she felt like she owned him right back.

“You’re mine, Elizabeth.”

“Yes” she whispered, more to herself, but she knew he heard. Oh God, walking away would be so difficult now. But she needed to go away. All the pleasure was quickly leaving room to full despair of what she had done.

She was in too deep. It wasn’t just falling in love with Rio and wanting to be with him. Now she was drowning in a life of crime and things she buried in her past. Turner was after her and he wouldn’t like her choosing sides, specially when it was not his. When it was _Rio’s_. He would hunt for her too, he would discover too much. Oh God. No.

“Let me go, now. Please.” She said and Rio looked at her and she could see regret in his eyes and then she realized she was crying, tears falling down her cheeks.

“Elizabeth.”

“I- I just need to be alone now, Rio. Please. I’ll be there on Monday, I’ll do what you want, just let me go, please” she said, and he pulled out of her and she could see in his eyes that he was probably hating himself right now and she felt awful. “I- You did nothing wrong, I’m just so tired- I- I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m in love with you, yes, but I can’t, please, just let me go.”

“Elizabeth, I can get you home.”

“I- Can I go alone? Oh, God. Look at me, how am I-“.

“I’m texting Diego, asking for your coat. Do you want me to call for a cab for you? Or I can ask one of the boys to drive you.”

“Uh, that won’t be necessary. I can manage. I- I’ll see you Monday.”

He nodded and they both tried to make themselves presentable. He gave her the knife and she felt awful. He trusted her enough to give her a weapon after everything and she spent half that time thinking he would kill her. Turner had gotten under her skin and she hated it.

Her hair was a total mess, so she tried to make it presentable and redid her lipstick. She tried to get her dress to cover enough and Rio looked at her, helping her put it in place. He gave her a kiss on the shoulder and walked to the door when they heard a light knocking, giving her coat and leaving, his face pained, like he couldn’t stand the sight of himself at that moment. She cried the minute he was gone, hugging her coat against her body.

Then, she wiped her tears away and put on the coat. She looked a mix between well-fucked and destroyed and she tried to find an exit where she wouldn’t see anyone.

She found herself in front of the building and called for an uber.

“Mrs. Boland.”

“Go away.”

“Care to explain?”

“Not really.”

“So, you blew the mission I gave you and left me there alone, without Castillo, to have a quickie somewhere?”

“I’m leaving.”

“No way.”

“Yes, and we’re done. You want to arrest Rio, great, go get the leads yourself. I’m done. I’m not going to help you, Agent Turner. I can’t. Just leave me alone” she said, walking to her car. He followed her.

“Aren’t you a good person? He’s killed people, Elizabeth. A kid, that worked for him. He killed him. Once he’s done with you, he’ll kill you too.”

“I’m not going to help you anymore. Forget it.”

“Why?”

“Because I love him. And I’m out. I don’t care anymore if he’s a violent criminal or if he killed my father himself or just works for the man who did. I love him and I’m out. You’re on your own.” And with that, she got in the car. “Goodbye.”

“You’re gonna regret this, Mrs. Boland” she heard him say, before tuning out the outside world and trying to make sense of all her feelings.

 

-

 

She was going to pay for that, he would make sure.

“Boss, the woman is here. Petersen’s girl.”

“Tell her to get in.”

He waited and watched the girlfriend come in, confused.

“You must have been wondering why I called you here.”

“Yes, I- “.

“He’s going home. But I need someone to vouch for him. That will be you. Boomer was involved with some shady business with a gang. But now I have no leverage against them. The girl I had- she’s an idiot.”

“Oh.”

“Her sister worked for your boy. Do you know her?”

“Who?”

“Elizabeth Boland.” He said and watched Mary Pat’s eyes widen in recognition. Jackpot.

“Not much, but yes.”

“Yeah. Can you get to know her? A little better?”

The last thing she wanted was to go against Beth. She was crazy. Dangerous. Mary Pat didn’t want to risk everything she had done because of Beth.

“I- I can’t.”

“Why?”

“She’s- dangerous, Agent Turner.”

“Is that so?”

“She gives me the creeps, I- “.

“Well, your boy Petersen will help me bring her and her boyfriend down, you know? They’re both criminals. She had some special interest to keep your man in prison, so I’m releasing him.”

Oh God.

“You know he’s been obsessed about them, Agent Turner. I don’t know if- “.

“You going to sign for him. We’ll relocate you both and your kids to a FBI facility, with agents for protection. Everything will be fine.”

“What if he goes after them.”

“We’ll deal with that. Right now, I just want to destroy them. If they’re dangerous, I’m sure you understand why.”

No. She didn’t want Boomer near her. He was a rapist, wasn’t he? Oh God.

“Sign here.”

“I don’t think- “.

“You’re under the impression that I was giving you a choice. You and your boy, you work for me now. I want Elizabeth, you will give me Elizabeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I actually mapped out this sex scene before 2x04, so maybe they give a vibe like "might get it on in a bathroom" because idk man, it was the only way I imagined happening. I needed the mirror, so imagine my surprise during the fourth episode.
> 
> RANT ON  
> Like Turner. I totally destroyed any ethical bone in his body in this story way before he revealed himself to be a creepy stalker dude harassing Beth for his gains. Except in the show he seems a lot more invested in Elizabeth, while in here his target is totally Rio (and you'll get why).  
> Mary Pat, too. I hated her in season 1, but she had reasoning behind her actions, so I thought I was being too harsh, but now, man. I'm glad about my plans.  
> Boomer was always scum and deserves what's coming for him.  
> Also, I'm tired of Annie being blameless for everything. She's obnoxious and very rude, specially to Ruby. Hello, dear, you fucked up more than all the other characters together and you have the nerve to have these judging moments (the one with Boomer's grandma calling when they're disposing of the cell, I was so angry, just shut up, he tried to rape you, she's a racist old fuck and if Ruby and Beth are horrible like you're implying, then you're also a horrible person, don't put it just on them). Ruby was 100% right saying those things of Annie. I always thought that Beth lived a shell of a life, because Annie was a screw up. The nerve of her demanding an apology for Ruby when she was way worse.  
> So, I had things planned for Annie, that are maybe bad, but that was previously the destruction of her character in season 2 for me. But now, I think I'm too biased to write Annie fairly, but I'll make her a better friend than the show, because I think there's no way she could be worse (c'mon, you let a guy, that you met at a bar and magically the other day he is your sketchy new boss that came out of nowhere, to hang out freely in your place after a few days, with YOUR KID there, than tells him things about your life that don't concern only you? They should've handled her way harsher.)  
> Man, Annie is a terrible role model. Like, c'mon. Sadie might be mature for his age, but he is still 12/13. Don't leave him alone with a guy you just met, GOD. I now see the Greg role a lot differently, because he was totally right about the custody thing. She acts like Sadie is a best friend, not a son.  
> Anyway, sorry about my rant.  
> RANT OFF
> 
> Other things, importants plot-wise: I'm thinking of including Noah, because I hate him with all my being (he might love Annie to an extent, but even after the realization, he still fucked Beth over to impress Turner, used Sadie even after Annie asked for time and also emotional and sexually harassed her - hello, he faked a persona to get her to bed, for me it's dubcon minimum, probably some level of rape by omission of intent, cause yeah) and I don't think the show is gonna deal with him the way he deserves. I can almost see him being forgiven, which is ridiculous, because he is 10000 times the douche Greg is and their relationship is way more fucked up (so cheating when the guy wants to leave the wife, that treats you like crap is worse than what Noah did?). He was your boss, man. Position of power, no? Okay then. I want him to suffer a lot.  
> Mary Pat. I always knew something was wrong about the husband, and that was already included in some extent, but man. She's the worst.  
> Boomer will die. There. I'm not even going to pretend he won't. For real this time.  
> I'm considering adding more of this beginning for Beth's previous life. Also, the old life is coming back soon, ready to crash with her run as a criminal queen.  
> I guess yeah, I'll try to post the new chapter fast, idek.  
> Please let me know what you thought -xo


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